Cowtownguy

And OBC go to live. Long live the red wine summits!

That screams long-term injury to me. As someone above noted, Smith looked as flexible as 70s Elvis. He is not stretching because an injury is preventing him from doing so, and he is degrading. He has had some time to recuperate I believe.

Faith in our goaltenders is the only thing that changes faster than Calgary weather. Why can't they just accept the reality that we have two goalies trending in very different directions?

Thank you for the update. I agree with you that he might be able to turn things around. At this point, the likelihood of that happening appears to be waning. He does have determination which is a big part of success.

If there is no expertise needed to clean this up, why don't they do so now? Hire a bunch of people who seriously need the work, and you can get them a little cheaper. In fact, there should be environmental disaster funds available for this sort of thing. Propose twinning an existing pipeline, and everybody loses their poop. Suggest cleaning up something that has already spilled and I assume is leaching, and there are crickets.

I was thinking that if the new model of supporting professional sports is to partially cover business costs, then make a multiplex now in order to reduce costs. Of course, that assumes cities will pay for arenas/stadiums in the future, that they actually need new facilities, and that a combo would be cheaper.

I would consider this to be round 2 of negotiations? I wonder how many rounds are preordained before the actual deal is done. I have read articles which stated that it took over a decade to solidify their contracts. Perhaps we have been negotiating for longer than I know, or we are more direct than Edmontonians, but I don't see why we would expect our arena any faster than the Oilers. It sure would be nice to get a complex that houses the Stamps as well. If they already need a new stadium, why revisit this issue again in a few years?

That makes sense to me. Some of those agents must have spent time in real estate or worked on Wall Street.

I see. It seems irrational for the NHL to demand a cap (which I have always liked) in order to ensure cost certainty, only to allow teams to borrow from the future today.

The losing culture in Edmonton is quite obvious right now. All of their fans are whining about how the club is ruined for the next GM. Is it that complex? Surely, they have enough players on their roster to form a 4th line. They also have enough bums to form a 1st line (McDavid, Draisiatl, someone). Once Sekera and Klefbom return, they should have a decent foundation for defence along with Larsson. So, the next guy just needs to address that middle 6. After the draft, they may have a another piece for the second line. Yamamoto and Puljujarvi should be coming up soon. Can you explain this to me? I have heard it before. How can a contract be buyout proof and why would Lucic want that? Last year, he claimed that he would be in great physical condition and skate faster. The guy has demonstrated no effort at all given he is unfit. Maybe they should bring in Hartley for a bit to get him into shape or leave of his own volition. The GM needs full autonomy (meaning an old fart like Hitch or Sutter) and the coach needs to be able to spank the players a bit. Hire a Hartley type of guy who will get them into shape and press them hard enough that the rot becomes obvious. Trade the losers who are dragging them down. As a Flames fan, keep on doin' what you are doin' up there folks. Looks great on ya!

Am I the only one kind of curious about what Chiarelli's plans were in the end? Like, was he about to move Draisaitl out for Mrazek? Buy out Lucic's contract at double the rate? I wonder...

Hey, do you think that Treliving will retire a jersey, or make Chiarelli "Forever a Flame"? ETA: Would it not make sense to consider trading McDavid away now? Perhaps they could complete another rebuild before he is 30, but the last few have not worked well.

That had to be said, and repeated.

I believe that they call them "Red Wine Summits". I am not aware of the origin of the phrase. While it sounds conspiratorial, it does explain some of the problems in their organization. If a committee of older Oilers are making the important decisions, and the GM is seriously constrained, it might explain some of their chaotic choices. It also explains why the Oilers keep making similar mistakes even when the GM is fired. Chiarelli certainly was not the first to offer crazy salaries and term. Anyhoo, I wish the next guy luck. I think they said some newbie named Gretzky or whatever, will take the GM position until they find MacT Lowe the next permanent replacement. He is gonna have to start with a long talk with McLottery.

Sounds like Chiarelli is in a little meeting tonight. "We have a dead man walkin', we have a dead..man..walkin'".

Good points. I would not be surprised if he turns things around in the right situation, which is not Edmonton if you are a goalie. No goalie on earth can survive, let alone shine, in that city. Edmonton will dump him for nothing at some point. Kewl. Wish he switched to a Gerry Cheevers mask.

Maybe he does deserve another contract. 6 x $6m enough? He found a great goalie for next to nothing?

A part of me wants to drive up to Edmonton, do a river dance jig, hula hoop thing or whatev in front of Chiarelli, and collect my 6 x $6m contract. Maybe Chiarelli thinks about the Flames too often when building his team. Yamamoto is clearly not the equivalent to Johnny even though a lot of Oiler fans seemed to think that until annoying reality brought them back down to earth. Koskinen is not a Kiprusoff, sorry. When Kipper made those stupid good saves that still have me scratching my head, he actually meant to make them. Whether it was that crazy one where he smacked the puck with this calve, or barely stopping it with his paddle right on the goal line, he knew what he was doing. That fact that many people here know the saves that I am talking about shows why Kipper is a legend. Kipper had a handful of weak games in Calgary and it was apparent when he struggled. You could pretty much guarantee that when he did have a less than stellar game, the net would be emptier than Rosie O'Donnell's dinner plate the next game. The Oilers are hooped at this point. They should either put Chiarelli out of his misery by firing him now, or extend his contract even for just a year. Leaving him squirm like this only increases the likelihood that he will make a desperation move. Signing Koskinen now instead of in the off-season just dropped what little they could get for Talbot. When Talbot leaves, I suspect that he turns things around if put in the right situation. I contend that Chiarelli's awkward situation is indicative that those above him are incompetent. He is most certainly not the only fool up in that organization. One or two trades is not going to turn around this team.

Send Gillies+ up to Endmonton for Talbot.

Yeah, but even pretending he is your boss is demotivating, isn't it? I bet you are thinking about a long weekend right now.

It should be in the CBA. "In the instance that a player's agent and team cannot agree on compensation, an arbitrator will use comparables to determine the appropriate compensation (Note: salaries for the Edmonton Oilers shall not be used as comparables in any instance)."

It is kind of sad that McDavid has to screw around with these bozos. Gretzky was able to make and break all of those records because he had a lot of talent around him. Ownership was terrible. McDavid appears to be under better ownership, but has to work with these tools. They don't even appreciate being on the same team as the guy given how little effort they put out. They didn't even help him when we started playing Mr. Potato Head with his face. The guy looked like Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre throughout the game.

Well, I can't argue with you about that. I thought it rather funny and tragic at the same time that, during the game against Oilers, McDavid had that look he had when Edmonton called his name at the draft. It is a very sad look. Seriously, if you observe carefully enough, you can literally see his soul being shred by black figures. I wouldn't be surprised if McLottery's agent chats with management to express their displeasure.

I think that McDavid is significantly better than Eichel and Nostrils, no?

I am not even sure it is possible, but does anyone know how create a running clock on this site? It would be awesome to know exactly how many days/hours left until the Oilers are eliminated from the playoffs. Or, it could be days until Chiarelli is fired. I never really thought that I would relish in the misfortune of the KY Club. It really does feel like '89 again.