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Oilers » Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)

Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48) [message #751749 is a reply to message #751743 ]	Thu, 16 January 2020 13:07

Adam
Messages: 7757
Registered: August 2005
Location: Edmonton, AB

6 Cups

smyth260 wrote on Thu, 16 January 2020 12:47

Adam wrote on Thu, 16 January 2020 10:51

You do have to admit, he was dramatically over-valued in Edmonton. I mean, he was a good player, but if he played on the Oilers in the 1980s, he's a third liner on those teams.

The funny thing is that he was never the best player on the Oilers in his time here, but he's still remembered as more of a hero than the guys who were the best players over those years. The media here loved him and knew his family and always gave him friendly press. While Smyth himself isn't particularly clever, I do think that his wife was pretty savvy and tried to keep him in the public eye as much as possible - if he went to visit an old lady turning 100, there was always going to be a film crew capturing it as she ran her hands through his flowing locks. And then he just seemed to try hard, which is all you need to do to be loved in Edmonton - it should really be about results, but for some reason, if you lead the team in scoring but don't look like you're pumping your legs hard every shift (Penner) or Rishaug and Spector publicly question you not staying out to dick around after practice (Hemsky) or you get carved by Kevin Lowe for getting paid bonus money that you earned by hitting targets (Comrie) then you're remembered much less fondly. It's still baffling why there's people out there who'd sooner honour Ryan Smyth than Doug Weight - who was the much better Oiler...

We've had this discussion time and time again. And here I am, biting again.

Quote:

You do have to admit, he was dramatically over-valued in Edmonton. I mean, he was a good player, but if he played on the Oilers in the 1980s, he's a third liner on those teams.

This is a strange, strange way of evaluating players. And I am sure you know that. John Tavares would be a 3rd line center on that team too.

I wasn't alive during the 80's. Not one minute of it. I was not alive during the literally greatest hockey team ever assembled (it's on a banner at Rogers, so it's official). I don't think what they accomplished should be influencing any standards during our lifetimes. Can't we let another generation enjoy something without bringing up how good that old team was?

Let's get to Smyth though.

Smyth lead the team in goal scoring seven times. He is tied with Gretzky for that Oiler's honor. Goal scoring was his thing. Nobody is saying he is better than Gretzky, or Weight...but come on. It's pretty easy to see that he was an important player for the Oilers for a long time. We aren't over-dramatizing anything. He lead the team many times in the category that wins you games. Those are stats. Not media bites, not community heroism or whatever.

I've always described Smyth as the guy with the highest goals to talent ratio. Lot's of goals, little talent. He had poor to average ability in all the main areas...shooting, skating, stickhandling. But he still got results. He did it by standing in front of the net during an era where Adam Foote could hack, wack, and crosscheck your spinal cord over and over again. He may have never been the best player during any era of the Oilers (always 2nd best) but he was the best goal scorer for about a decade. That is worth talking about.

I think we can take some lessons from HOW he got his results. You can still get results without being the best. It might be the harder path, you might have to get dirtier, but the results can come if you stick to it. Now are we talking about heroism and philosophical ideas, stuff the media might love? Yes. Maybe there is some truth to it. Just because it makes a good story, doesn't mean we should disregard everything. I think Ryan Smyth did work pretty darn hard to continually be the leading goal scorer.

He is the best scorer the team has ever had post-dynasty until McDavid and Draisaitl. Taylor Hall never hit 30 as an Oiler. Eberle got 34 once. I don't know who else is even worth talking about other than that. What he did for Edmonton year over year is worth something to fans. A lot more than you may like. Let us enjoy the memories. People my age don't have 5 Stanley Cups and 50 in 39 and Petr Klima's overtime. We have Chris Pronger ditching town, Doug Weight being worth too much, Dany Heatley vetoing trades to Edmonton, weird trades for Brian Leetch, and Ryan Smyth scoring goals. Let us enjoy it.

I'm not saying Smyth wasn't an important player or that he wasn't a good player. He was both of those things.

He's just not someone who's name should ever be mentioned in discussions about retiring numbers, or the greatest Oilers and he's over-rated by Edmonton fans because those years were so lean, and he was a lunch bucket guy who was one of our better players.

As for goals to points ratio, yes, pretty decent - although he's no Ciccarelli or Andreychuk who played the same role for other teams and were much better at it. Luc Robitaille is probably the best points/goals to talent player in the league's history.

I also think he's one of those players who showed how little he bled team colours - despite all the press to the contrary. He held out on every deal and then complained that he took hometown discounts, and on the last negotiation, he refused to give an inch leading to his trade away. When he came back, he pouted on the rare occasions he was sat, despite pretty mediocre results, and mused about what role he thought he should be playing. His entourage then pushed post-career for him to get a role with the organization, commenting on stories created by Jim Matheson. I think a lot of that is his wife and family involvement - but it definitely leaves a bad taste in my mouth - especially when they finally DID give him a role, he didn't really want to do it.

All that said - you are right. He was an important part of the team for a long time and he was a good player. I don't think any criticism is meant to take away from that.

"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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Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: OilFans on Tue, 14 January 2020 21:30
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Ragnarok73 on Tue, 14 January 2020 21:37
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Oscargasm on Tue, 14 January 2020 21:41
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Oscargasm on Tue, 14 January 2020 21:51
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Kr55 on Tue, 14 January 2020 22:23
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Adam on Wed, 15 January 2020 11:21
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: CrudeRemarks on Wed, 15 January 2020 11:35
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Oscargasm on Wed, 15 January 2020 13:22
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Gator21 on Wed, 15 January 2020 20:46
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Oscargasm on Wed, 15 January 2020 21:11
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: CrudeRemarks on Thu, 16 January 2020 06:39
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Adam on Thu, 16 January 2020 11:51
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: RDOilerfan on Thu, 16 January 2020 12:39
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: smyth260 on Thu, 16 January 2020 12:47
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Adam on Thu, 16 January 2020 13:07
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: smyth260 on Thu, 16 January 2020 13:32
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: CrudeRemarks on Thu, 16 January 2020 15:26
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Kr55 on Thu, 16 January 2020 16:41
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: smyth260 on Thu, 16 January 2020 16:55
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Adam on Thu, 16 January 2020 17:03
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: CrusaderPi on Thu, 16 January 2020 19:44
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Kr55 on Thu, 16 January 2020 20:32
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Adam on Fri, 17 January 2020 09:29
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Kr55 on Fri, 17 January 2020 09:58
Re: Review: Nashville @ Edmonton (Game #48)	By: Kr55 on Thu, 16 January 2020 16:57

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