CrusaderPi wrote on Wed, 16 November 2022 11:10

They clearly didn't get the best case McDavid type generational pick, but the team went out of their way to make chicken crap out of chicken salad. The Oilers acted like a first overall meant instant success. No need to worry about anything, Hall will take care of it. No defense because Hall. No leadership because Hall. No coach or GM because Hall will fix everything. The two extra firsts and Eberle's emergence really served to underscore organizational deficiencies. Honestly it looks like the Oilers are still following the same model, they just have a much better version of Hall and Ebs. In retrospect, they should have traded the Yak pick for defense.

This is 100% correct. Yes, the Oilers had some bad luck with some of their 1st overalls, but it wouldn't have made a difference even if they did get Stamkos and Tavares instead of RNH and Yakupov because of how poorly the roster was constructed outside of that. We know this, because, as Pi pointed out, we're living through the Oilers getting the absolute best possible outcome in McDavid/Draisaitl in terms of draft picks working out and the team is still just mediocre.

I mean, it's been a constant source of angst around here how poorly the bottom 6 has consistently been. Hall/RNH/Ebs was actually a very good 1st line and consistently outscored their opponents. The problem was always that any good that the top 6 did was wiped out by how badly the bottom 6 got caved on a regular basis. If the bottom 6 would have even been close to even, the Oilers would have been a playoff team more often than not in those years.

And no, I don't think much has changed. Sure there's a different GM and a different coach, but it's the same old problems. The Oilers GF% without McDavid or Drai on the ice is currently 38.9% at 5x5. McDavid and Draisaitl are #1 and #2 in scoring in the league and the Oilers are +1 as a team in goal differential.

Can anyone actually tell me what value Bob Nicholson brings to the organization? Like is there any argument that having him around is in any way close to the value the team could get in building out an actual analytics group? And bring back the player concierge while they're at it
It's been said many times, but nothing will actually get better while the Oilers continue to do things the exact same way they've been doing them, and I'm with Pi in that I don't think they've given any indication that they are trying to do things differently.

Oilers Goal Differential
17/18: 234 GF / 263 GA (-29)
18/19: 232 GF / 274 GA (-42)
19/20 (82 game pace): 257 GF / 254 GA (+3) in 64 games
2021 (82 game pace):269 GF / 235 GA (+34) after 38 games