Post by Horpensky on December 28th, 2009
As the Oilers have fallen 6 straight in a row, fans are screaming for CHANGE CHANGE! We haven’t done anything in the past few years! CHANGE! Well, the players may not have changed, but the organization as a whole has actually been dynamically changing the past few years, from the top down.
July 2, 2008
Daryl Katz is announced as the new official owner of the Edmonton Oilers.
This happened only just one and a half years ago. This was a sign of a new era. The Oilers now have a single owner with lots of money, were able to spend to the cap now, take on front loaded contracts, and be able to compete financially. With seemingly unlimited money, this changes the way not only how the entire organization pays players, but more importantly they can spend more on the ‘grinders’ of management, the scouts, coaching staff, development team, capologist, negotiators, etc.
July 31, 2008
Steve Tambellini named GM of the Oilers
Now with the owner change, the next guy in line is the GM. With Kevin Lowe’s feuds and offer sheets, it’s no secret not a lot of GM’s will be willing to deal with the Oilers anymore. Just about one month later, Kevin Lowe was replaced with Steve Tambellini. This brought about a new vision for the Oilers, the guy who makes it happen.
April 15, 2009
Craig MacTavish is relieved of his duties as head coach of the Oilers
Following one dismal season under Tambellini, Craig MacTavish was fired. In order for a coach to be effective, the players need to listen to him. It was clear he had lost the room, and change was needed. Pat Quinn and Tom Renny were both brought onboard to attempt to right the ship. I don’t believe Craig MacTavish’s system is better, or Quinn’s system is better, but the primary reason they were brought in to gain new respect from the players. The system comes secondary, and the thing we want to see is, do we have the right players to play the system?
With all these changes on the top level, I believe it isn’t done yet, and the next guys in line after the coach, is the leadership core. The coach can only do so much to get the team going, and listening to Quinn night after night talking about the guys jumping ship, I can’t help but think the leaders aren’t strong enough to keep the team onboard when things start going south. So who are the leaders? I truly believe that you have to be an on ice leader to lead. When you’re playing Calgary, guys like Gagner, Brule, Cogs, are crapping their pants at the thought of playing against Iginla, Bouwmeester, and Phaneuf. They’ll look to their own leaders to go and score a goal, make smart decisions, make great passes, and make important decisions to get them back into the game when they’re down. When you see your own leaders doing this, it really motivates the rest of the team to follow suit rather than jumping ship. I know it’s only been 3 months, but I see this season as an evaluation season for the leadership under the new coach, and at this rate, new changes should be coming later in the year.
So, looking back in the past one and a half years, the organization has changed a lot in that time, from the Owner, then to the GM, and then the coach. Who knows who else has been hired on the side in the development/scouting department, but we seemed to have gotten a lot better as we drafted guys like Eberle and MPS, and development of Potulny take a huge leap. This team has some bright spots ahead and already has gone through some massive changes that we don’t see on ice. It has only been 1.5 years, but it seems like forever that Tambo has done jack all even though the organization has been changing as a whole to fit a more sustainable future. As fans, it’s easy to say waive so and so, trade this guy, sign that guy, but we aren’t Tambo, and who knows what goes on in his office every day. I do believe more change will come to the organization, and this time the be the guys on the ice will be next.
Hey Horpensky, as always, great post.
From my point of view, the way I see it, why not question Tambellini? How do we know he’s actually doing anything in his office? How do we know he’s considering all the options. Unfortunately, we really don’t have any way of knowing that. So, it’s going to happen. You can’t expect fans to sit quietly, hoping that he’s exploring all avenues.
Also, I’m still not fully sure why waiving a player is not an option for our team. The only thing that could potentially be stopping him from doing that is Katz. And well, I know it’s his team and all, but sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.
I will be patient for this year’s trade deadline though. However, if Moreau isn’t moved by then, then I sure as heck hope that they’re waiving him before next season starts. As you mentioned, a leadership change is needed, and it starts with getting Moreau out of here, in my opinion. He’s lost all ability to lead by example.
Who else do you think would need to go from leadership? Our other leaders are: Staios, Hemsky, Horcoff, Penner (6th best leader on the team!), Souray and to a lesser extent Pisani, Comrie, Visnovsky and Strudwick. Stortini also has been said to be a leader (captained the Sudbury Wolves at age 17).
As far as that crew, most would agree Moreau should be moved. I think some will instantly pick Staios to be moved as well. I’m hesitant on that (because as Steve-O says, I have a man crush on him). But if the Oil were to pick up a guy like Boynton or Tallinder or someone of that ilk, I’d be happy enough to see him go, and it might be a good thing to do for the leadership change. Strudwick is a given to be gone next year. Horcoff is all but unmoveable, but I feel he leads by example anyways. Pisani may be gone next year.
Souray would make a good replacement captain, as would Horcoff, possibly.
So, I guess then I have to ask, who do we replace these guys with? And who would others want to see gone from our leadership? Who can we REALISTICALLY get rid of?
When was the last time you saw a team say “rebuild” in the middle of the season? Even Burke waited till the trade deadline to gut the Leafs. Although as fans we may want to rebuild NOW and want guys gone NOW, I don’t think waiving the Captain right now would be the best idea. You gotta realize the guys on the team still have half the season to play, and when you waive the captain, it shows the team that management is waiving the white flag now and it would be very deflating mentally to play the second half of the season knowing management expects you to lose. Also Quinn would probably be even more frustrated knowing Tambo expects him to lose.
I have a feeling it will happen at the trade deadline, and if not, the offseason. He’ll give the same speech as the MacT one, “we need a new voice in the leadership, etc”. Owner, GM, Coach… leadership is next.
Speaking of which, the Captials just traded their 4th liner ‘captain’ Chris Clark. It was a matter of time, but that’s a huge salary dump for them. Although he had the ‘C’, we all know Ovechkin is the real leader.
Yah, as I mentioned above though, I’m patient enough to wait until the deadline to make some moves.
But that Clark trade, to me, just reinforces that it is possible to move some of our players. Plus Kyle Calder and Dave Scatchard were placed on waivers today. It happens often enough. I’m not saying fire sale tomorrow, or anything, but there’s nothing wrong with getting the ball rolling starting now.
How many people are now saying “gee I wish MacTavish was fired earlier last season so that the new coaches could have gotten that awkward learning phase over with earlier”.
Honestly, as I said, I’m being patient, but there’s nothing wrong with getting the ball rolling right now. From a player perspective, it also could go a long ways to see that your GM really does recognize the world of hurt your team is in and is trying to turn it around.