Skoobz wrote on Thu, 08 November 2018 11:08

It's so cool how even when the Oilers are definitely NOT a bad team, the fan base still wants to think they are.

We have some great players, but I think it's a stretch to say we have a good team right now, especially with some of the organizational weakness.

- Chiarelli is probably top-3 worst GMs in the league. The "brain trust" around him would all give him a run for worst if they had the job too. On top of that, even if Chia got fired, the chance of getting a top notch guy to replace him is hurt by the fact we have all those other clowns sitting there too - many with a personal relationship with the owner.

- McLellan is not good too...I'd definitely put him in the bottom third of the league in coaches, maybe lower than that. Stubborn, bad communicator, terrible special teams, over-reliance on stars, morale killing, unable to adjust mid-game or mid-series.

- The scouting staff is riddled with nepotism picks. I'm sure that Messier's brother and Chiarelli's brother are good guys, but are they really the most capable people to have in the scouting staff? Or was that just because of their last names?

- Player development remains a challenge. There is limited depth in the system. If we suffer any injuries, there's not a lot of guys who are pushing towards an NHL roster on the farm team.

- Cap situation is critical - although Chia just blames this on McDavid with a chuckle in the latest Athletic article, the team has no latitude to make any moves.

- On-ice, McDavid is sublime and we've had pretty good starts from Nugent-Hopkins, Draisaitl and Klefbom. Chiasson and Caggiula have surprised with the hot hands lately. Beyond that, and we're seeing some serious issues. Strome has a single point. Lucic is on pace for a 22 point season. Yamamoto and Puljujarvi's development looks to be in danger. The fourth line has been bad - Brodziak is -7. Kassian can't stay in the lineup.

- Goaltending has been iffy.

- Nurse is carrying a third pairing guy with him on the second pairing all the time - he's -6. The coach has no confidence in anyone who plays on the third pairing and so they play sparingly while Klefbom's in the top five in the league for time on ice.

I think the Oilers have been okay so far this year, but I don't think this team is anywhere near out of the woods yet, and if they played in any other division, I'd say that playoffs would be doubtful - which is unforgivable for a team with Connor McDavid.

"Thinking that a bad team's best players are the reason the team is bad is the "Tambellini re-signing Lennart Petrell" of sports opinions." @Woodguy55
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