The question posed in this thread is exactly what I asked myself in watching that game yesterday.
The simple answer that has been offered on this forum literally thousands of times is that when ownership goes out and hires the right people everything changes. Your biggest star flies the coop in the off-season? No problem. You bring in the right management/coaching team, make the right adjustments, get more out of what you already have and the sky is the limit.
Profoundly simple but Katz doesn't get it.
He went out and hired Nicholson because Bobby Burgers was a good friend of Katz's idol Wayne Gretzky. Bobby then turns around and hires his buddy Chia despite the warnings that a lot of people in Boston offered. Stay clear they warn but Bobby says no, this guy is pals with Wayne and me.
You didn't have to be Nostradomus to see what was going to happen.
Ok lets do it
Step 1: Lets find the absolutely dumbest franchise in the NHL/ of all time
Step 2: Put that team on speed dial and rip them off on 2 trades.
Step 3: Profit
Oh wait, WE are the dumbest franchise in the NHL? Ok nvm, thats why it wont work
I remembering Boychuk coming out last summer pretty much calling out everyone that wasn't a part of the organization. Lot of people were down on the club and Johnny made it known that the guys that were left have a big chip on their shoulder.regardless of barzal the isles have immensely improved their culture on and off the ice and in the organization that they'd still be a playoff team or at least have a solid cultural foundation to quickly build off of and be successful. don't for a second think their turn around wasn't bascially 99% on trotz and lamo. they had the same lineup WITH a superstar in tavares and were a significantly worse team.
I remembering Boychuk coming out last summer pretty much calling out everyone that wasn't a part of the organization. Lot of people were down on the club and Johnny made it known that the guys that were left have a big chip on their shoulder.
Trotz helped the most, but have that kind of vocal leadership to challenge guys helps a lot.
regardless of barzal the isles have immensely improved their culture on and off the ice and in the organization that they'd still be a playoff team or at least have a solid cultural foundation to quickly build off of and be successful. don't for a second think their turn around wasn't bascially 99% on trotz and lamo. they had the same lineup WITH a superstar in tavares and were a significantly worse team.
I remembering Boychuk coming out last summer pretty much calling out everyone that wasn't a part of the organization. Lot of people were down on the club and Johnny made it known that the guys that were left have a big chip on their shoulder.
Trotz helped the most, but have that kind of vocal leadership to challenge guys helps a lot.
The Oilers went out and backed the Bricks trucks up for Lucic and made numerous "character" acqusitions in 2015 and 2016 (not to mention making numerous other in years before, Ference for a quick example). If the Oilers think they can replicate the Isles with character, I have some very bad news for you. It aint character
I have some good news/bad news for people though. If people are jealous of the Isles, you wont be next season. The Isles led the league in PDO this year and had very shotty underlying numbers. Where have we since this song and dance before? Calgary in 2014, Toronto in 2012 and Colorado before them.
So the really answer to the question "If the Isles could do it, why not us?", well, we just need to lead the league in luck and have an outlier season. We already had this in 2016/17. So dont fret people jealous of the Isles, next season they too will be in the draft lottery
Just need to bring in more high character guys like Jordan Eberle. Right OP?
Yeah if only the Oilers had high character players like
Leading the Islanders in the playoffs.
Wins Hart Trophy as NHL's MVP, leads the Devils into the playoffs.
Top 4 D-Man on a two time Stanley Cup winner (top pairing for most recent Cup).
Maybe the "culture" that needs to change is the Oilers culture from management + impatient parts of the fanbase that jump all over talented players and blame them for poorly built rosters and then give up on said players.
Maybe it's the "scapegoat" culture here that is what really needs to change. The same group of people were trying to do the same to Draisaitl until he shut them up by scoring 50 damn goals and 100+ points.
wow, what a hyperbole of a post. ebs was a bit player in the reg season... sure he happens to be potting some goals now but you make it sound like it's all him. no.... it's a lot to do with trotz and his system/culture.
hall... fluked out one year. awesome. back to his norm this year of either being injured and useless or an overrrated player.
schultz.... surrounded by quality veteran players who make him look better than he is.
those players had their chance here and failed. i'm honestly not even sure any of them, if we had a magic wand and brought them back, would push the needle forward much anyhow... especially true for ebs and schultz.
well ya... definitely the culture needs to change.... the obc probably needs to go... or at least there needs to be serous and real org cultural change in place and have it trickle down to the players.
They didn't have a fair chance here, you guys were busy blaming them for everything when it was clear they weren't given a good roster to work with.
Your kind of culture of piling on blame is IMO a large part of the problem.
These were good players that we could use now, and so what if they couldn't make it work with guys like Mark Fayne, washed up Andrew Ference, Nikita Nikitin, Mark Arcobello, Teddy Purcell, Ben Scrivens, etc. etc.
"Scapegoat culture" is a large part of the problem here. Piling on players and blowing every little thing they do out of proportion and having no concept of a big picture, small town mentality "gossiping" and spreading of rumors when a player is underperforming, quick to jump all over a player, etc. etc. is a problem.
If Leon Draisaitl did not put up monster numbers this year he would be hearing about it right now.
So that the Oilers players here see only either anger, frustration or indifference from the corporate types and from the segment of fans. The Oilers also see disposable fans. different people in different seats almost every night. Contrast this to even Calgary or Winnipeg where STH actually go to most of the games.
really?... you haven't caught on that i've been saying the culture of the management is a huge problem? ok then....
I think as fans on judge GMS alot on their trades, free agents, drafts etc but I think when you look at an organization like the Islanders, its seems pretty clear than Lamourello set a new "culture", accountability, and stabilized the franchise. He just doesnt put up with incompetence. He then hired someone who is a great coach.
Thats pretty much what this team needs. Accountability from the top down. We can make all the trades and draft picks we want, but things likely wont improve until someone stabilizes the franchise. I personally think there needs to be a purge done. But unfortunately I dont trust Katz and Nicholson to get it done (or hire the person to get it done). I hope I am wrong but I wont hold my breath.
Using the Islanders as a blue print is likely foolish, they are having a good year but every year there is a team like them that falls back down to earth the year after. Maybe they will buck that trend if they acquire big name players like Panarin in the summer though.
Vegas does not fall into this category. They added an entire damn 1st line (Patches-Statsny-Stone) to the team in 9 months and have 3 recent All-Star players with impressive depth around those guys. They are not some shoe-string budget Cinderella team that's gritting out wins on "culture", they are one of the deepest teams in the league.
I think as fans on judge GMS alot on their trades, free agents, drafts etc but I think when you look at an organization like the Islanders, its seems pretty clear than Lamourello set a new "culture", accountability, and stabilized the franchise. He just doesnt put up with incompetence. He then hired someone who is a great coach.
Thats pretty much what this team needs. Accountability from the top down. We can make all the trades and draft picks we want, but things likely wont improve until someone stabilizes the franchise. I personally think there needs to be a purge done. But unfortunately I dont trust Katz and Nicholson to get it done (or hire the person to get it done). I hope I am wrong but I wont hold my breath.
Picking on and scapegoating, incessantly spreading rumors and negativity around specific players when the real reason the team is bad is simply because its built poorly IS part of the culture here.
They didn't have a fair chance here, you guys were busy blaming them for everything when it was clear they weren't given a good roster to work with.
Your kind of culture of piling on blame is IMO a large part of the problem.
These were good players that we could use now, and so what if they couldn't make it work with guys like Mark Fayne, washed up Andrew Ference, Nikita Nikitin, Mark Arcobello, Teddy Purcell, Ben Scrivens, etc. etc.
"Scapegoat culture" is a large part of the problem here. Piling on players and blowing every little thing they do out of proportion and having no concept of a big picture, small town mentality "gossiping" and spreading of rumors when a player is underperforming, quick to jump all over a player, etc. etc. is a problem.
If Leon Draisaitl did not put up monster numbers this year he would be hearing about it right now.
Culture is for yoghurt. The Isles had a talented but young roster that is finally coming of age, plus with a goalie having a stellar year. The Isles are roughly where the Oilers would be if we hadnt chased Hall out and added Lucic in the name of “culture.”regardless of barzal the isles have immensely improved their culture on and off the ice and in the organization that they'd still be a playoff team or at least have a solid cultural foundation to quickly build off of and be successful. don't for a second think their turn around wasn't bascially 99% on trotz and lamo. they had the same lineup WITH a superstar in tavares and were a significantly worse team.