Cowtownguy

What!? I don't think that Chiarelli knows the difference between being decisive and making knee-jerk moves that make no sense. Who knows if Koskinen is their future? Not that long ago, Talbot was all the rage.

Agreed, but the problem is that there might not be any Chiarellis in the league crazy enough to take on these guys. I was shocked (sorta) when I heard this today. Basically, you got nothing for Eberle; still a fan favourite in Edmonton. I understand all GMs have their screwups, and you have to trade in a hostile, competitive environment, but zip for the guy!? Maybe the waiver is for "a bold move" coming.

Thank you for the clarification.

I just read this from another poster on another board and, unfortunately, the point was not well explained or justified. I am not sure if this is true by any means, so this is why I raised it. I assumed that if a guy is injured, his cap space would not be impactful at all, and that he could be brought up at will. IF this is correct, I would like to know how this is the case. IF correct, Chiarelli is not a very wise manager. And now I am not sure where I read that. I will keep looking in case there is more info here. Just curious.

I don't understand the CBA like a lot of people on this site. I read somewhere that the Oilers are so close to the cap, that they will incur penalties if they activate Sekera. If that is true, Chiarelli is insane.

No way man. Saturday, April 6th, we go into KY Town. The Oilers will be 1 point out of a playoff spot. Johnny feasts on the greasers and delivers the death knell. Oilers D add to the lead by pulling a Steve Smith on Costco-Inn.

As Johnny Dangerously used to say, I hope that we get those fargin bastages tonight!

I agree with you because, from what I gather, most Canadian architectural firms are branch plants from the US anyways. Given we are spending bank on this, why not improve our knowledge base? Look at all of those companies in Qatar, Emirates etc. They spend a lot of money on projects like this, but ensure that there is real development taking place. After spending over .5 billion, we should ensure that we get as much out of this as is possible. Peeps has argued that we would likely need Chinese or US steel. My understanding is that we have modernized our small steel industry far ahead of the US plants. I am just not sure about how much we produce these days.

When I lived in the 'peg, we rented the Winnipeg Arena on weekends at midnight. It was a dive of course, but it was kewl playing in an NHL arena.

In other words, keep doing what they do every year and hope that things turn out differently. Management pretends like they are going to perform well while the players know it is over. At least Chiarelli can say that he made a bold (if dumb) move when he acquired Manning.

I am not a city planner, but it seems wasteful to demolish the Saddledome. I hope that they do not let it fall apart like Edmonton did with Rexall.

Dunno if the luxury boxes have gone up in price, but the regular seats sure have since moving to the new arena.

I am not sure why the Oilers are allowing Chiarelli to make any further moves at this point. While McDavid is clearly a great talent, Draisaitl is a good piece, and the Oilers are only a few points away from a wildcard spot, I just don't see them making the playoffs or doing anything if they make the playoffs. They should finish off the season, do a thorough review of the team by way of a few truly independent analysts, and possibly blow it up in the off-season. For me, "blowing it up" means making everyone, including McDavid, available for trade. They might be able to get an excellent talent and a bunch of #1 picks for McDavid alone. A good GM might be able to get a lot out for Draisaitl. I doubt that they are just a piece or two away from being a contender even with the right coach. I am not a fan of acquiring one or two players who drive the whole team. It has worked in the past, but it generally leads to a long dry aftermath.

In this effort, their scouts and staff have left no stone unturned. Their problems have been solved with the bold move of adding Colby Cave to the roster. Not sure how Chiarelli managed to swing him when every other team was swooning the guy.

Toronto and Edmonton might make good trading partners. It sounds like Talbot is up for grabs, and Toronto needed goaltending apparently. I am not sure if they acquired what they really wanted in the trade with Florida. The Leafs have a lot of forwards while the Oilers have one. Boyo in Toronto might be the last guy to hoop Chiarelli.

I wonder if there is any credibility to these Red Wine Summits stories? Does Chiarelli have full control over the Oilers or are there restrictions placed on him? Do the old boys still have a major impact on the team? I was rather surprised by news that they are going all out to get help at forward. What surprises me the most is that ownership is actually allowing Chiarelli to make any further big moves. If anything, I thought that Chiarelli would be a seller at the deadline before being fired. If I were an Oilers fan, I would be worried about this situation. Chiarelli must be concerned about losing his job, and a desperate General Manager is more likely to make desperate trades. My guess is that most hockey fans would say he makes poor trades when his job is secure. I would love to be a fly on the wall when the Oilers talk to their season ticket holders this year. Pointing out that Ottawa is marginally worse can only go so far.

Maybe every contender worries about goaltending in the cap era. Smith's play has me concerned about this year.

It will be interesting to see what the Oilers do later this year. Last night, Hitch basically argued that the team simply lacks intensity. He has been to the playoffs several times, and stated that this team just doesn’t expend enough energy to make it. Do you axe management again? Do you initiate a fire sale? How long can they expect to keep McDavid?

I would really like to know what is going on with Smith. The problem seems to be confidence given his net behaviour. How does a guy that competitive lose his confidence at 36?

Their performance is so amazingly predictable. They get a Hitch bump followed by 6 losses. They broke the 6 game loss recently.

We all anticipated the Hitch bump. The question is whether they can turn things around over the long term. I would never believe that a team could acquire so many great assets and keep losing, but Edmonton shows that it is possible. I wonder if Hitchcock was hired more to assess what is happening with their team. It appears as though former General Managers inculcated a culture where players were overpaid, and overpaid too early in their careers. I cannot believe that they were partying until 3:00am or 5:00am as Ferrence suggests. When they were accused of not paying a $10K bar tab in Calgary a few years ago, I was more struck that they were partying like that during the playing year. I thought that sort of thing had largely disappeared among the new generation of players who organize their lives around the game.

I was just thinking to what Peeps said some time ago about how much the local economy might benefit from a new arena. He claimed that we don't build enough in Canada and would see few benefits. So, when I noticed that the Flames acquired a Detroit architecture firm, I thought that was something that could be done in Canada or Calgary. After the negativity surrounding CalgaryNext, the election, and the charity inquiry, I would assume that any positive news from the Flames, such as using a Canadian architecture firm, would be welcomed.

They don't have to put it out for tender though. They can just chose whoever they want to design their building. They only have to follow such rules should they decide to make it a competitive bid.

I suspect that most fans have noticed his decline since that injury. If memory serves, I think it was just before our break. We were still in a playoff position (or close to one), and his play started to trail off. Now, it seems when he is better, he makes a few really good saves and lets in a terrible one. The desire still seems to be there, but the ability (mentally or physically), does not seem to be. I hope he turns it around.