I’m finally back on my feet after being bed-ridden for a week and I see that absolutely nothing has happened in the world of Oilers hockey save for a break-up letter, some speculation that the Oilers could be interested in some Nashville Predators, and an apparent Darnell Nurse offer sheet…
All of it is bullshit but I’ll comment on it anyhow.
BREAKING UP WITH THE OILERS
Former Oilers fan Brett Barrett of the famed “Brett Barrett Blog” penned a post this week detailing his break up with the Edmonton Oilers and I couldn’t be happier. Not only for him because he’s finally at peace after years and years of mental turmoil but also for the Edmonton Oilers because someone who truly loves the Oilers can step in and take Barrett’s spot.
Facetiousness aside, this post by Barrett was obviously an attempt to see if he was doing the right thing in a public manner. Anybody who is 100% sure wouldn’t have tossed it into a blog to gauge the response like he did.
These are few things I think he did poorly in his post:
- The poor attempt to throw shade on the organization in my opinion and it didn’t help by his self-admittance in becoming aware of how a team is built via the EA NHL video game series…
YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE GM DIFFICULTY IN THE REAL WORLD!
- It didn’t help to bring up the Hall trade without also bringing up how the Oilers made the playoffs the very next season.
- Using the Chicago Blackhawks as a comparable for how a team should be rebuilt is laughable.
- Not mentioning the acquisitions of Pat Maroon or Cam Talbot was pretty telling as to where his allegiances lie.
- How do you feel about the Oilers developmental pipeline and the increase in organizational depth under Chiarelli Brett?
- Mat “Pick 16” Barzal? Seriously? Child, you lost…
- Bringing up the Bruins years under Chiarelli in a negative light while making no mention of the two Cup finals he engineered the team to was a bit daft as well.
- Not including his own letter to the Oilers but publishing the one they gave him was a pretty shitty thing to do.
- Packed up his Oilers shit and gave it to his parents? Who does that? Brett does because he’s not really serious about this. It’s just a cry for attention. Now he can go to his Oilers-loving friends and brag about his antics and sit on that high horse… They’ll laugh at him though because they know when the Oilers are winning Brett will come back with his Taylor Hall jersey on and try to get back in the bad…
Why not man up and burn the merch for everyone to see if you’re that serious? Or better yet, DONATE IT, MORON!
- His belief that the Oilers “owe” him something due to this “implicit contract” between fan and team.
You’re not a victim! Stop pretending to be one.
The Oilers don’t owe you anything. They provide an entertainment service and it’s up to you to decide if you’d like to partake in said service. If you’re unhappy with the product, don’t support it. The problem is, there are companies out there that sponsor the Oilers and when you buy/use their product you’re also in a roundabout way supporting the Oilers.
So if you truly want to boycott the Oilers and REALLY breakup with them, you’ve got to cut yourself off from the Oilers’ “friends” too… Good Luck with that! I mean you wouldn’t hang out with your ex’s friends would you? #Awkward
There were some things I agreed with in that letter though. The Petry deal was shite. The Oilers pointing to the signings of Patrick Russell and Mikko Koskinen was not a helpful comment at all. The Reinhart trade was brutal.
I feel like if Brett would take the time to look at the good things that Chiarelli has done instead of focusing on the negative, his Oilers experience would have been a lot better…
I look at letters like this and I shake my head and wonder how fans in Quebec City feel. They had a bloody team, it sucked for so long and as soon as it started winning, it was ripped out of their hands. Not only that but they had a generational talent that refused to play for them.
Not all teams progress in a straight line and there are many reasons for that, including the performance of the GM. I mean, how long were the Red Wings a bad hockey team before becoming one of the best in the history of the league?
Folks like Brett here are whining and crying because their team isn’t a cup contender in year 4 of McDavid. Mario Lemieux’s Penguins weren’t a Cup contender until year 7 years after he was drafted. Gretzky didn’t win a Cup in his first 4 years in the league.
YOU’RE NOT ENTITLED TO ANYTHING!
You’re not entitled to a winning team even if you pay your hard earned money to watch the Oilers. We all expect one and I think that is fair enough but fans aren’t entitled to anything because there’s not a person on this planet that can guarantee that any given team will be a winning one.
I fan from afar and so that makes it a bit easier for me and maybe that’s unfair because I can separate myself from the team but even that being said, I’ve never connected my self-worth to how the Oilers are performing. When they win, I’m happy. When they lose, it sucks but I go on with my day. Some “fans” should try it.
Brett will be back though. He’s young and I don’t think he’s dumb enough to give up on a team that is lead by Connor McDavid, even if his girlfriend is a Flames fan… And if he wants to come back, I’d be happy to fan with him but there’ll be a cost.
“Remember that time you wrote a letter to the Oilers to tell them you were breaking up with them?”
Every. Single. Game.
PREDS SPECULATION
Bob Stauffer made mention the other day that the Oilers will most likely be keeping a keen eye on the waiver wire come the end of training camp in order to add a 14th forward and specifically mentioned the Nashville Predators.
I looked at their roster and in terms of non-waiver eligible forwards, the only ones I could see even touching the waiver wires are:
- Frederick Gaudreau
- Colton Sissons
- Mikka Salomaki
- Rocco Grimaldi
- Zac Rinaldo
- Connor Brickley
Of those players, I’d be willing to bet Rinaldo, Salomaki, and maybe Gaudreau would make it through training camp only to be cut at the last second.
I don’t like any of them to be honest. Rinaldo is one of the leagues biggest c*nts, Gaudreau had a fine playoffs for Nashville not too long ago, and I haven’t the foggiest when it comes to Salomaki so I won’t make a comment there.
Anybody interest you on the Preds in a waiver move?
NURSE OFFER SHEET
If a team wants to offer sheet Darnell Nurse, let them. I love the big guy and the Oilers have spent many-a-resource developing him but if there’s a team desperate enough to overpay for him right now, let them. I’d be happy with the picks and the Oilers are decent on the left side as it is with Klefbom, Sekera, and Russell as their first three options. Add to that newly-signed Kevin Gravel, Ryan Stanton, and Keegan Lowe and it’s not as bad as one thinks.
Even if it were that bad and Nurse did sign an OS with another club, that’d open up some space to sign an FA like Brandon Davidson.
Just want to send a shout out to a great follower Gurmanjit Sangoo! She was kind enough to send out this tweet and we love her for it!
Give her a folllow, you won’t regret it!
https://twitter.com/GurmanjitSagoo/status/1024164386921832448
