Sunday, November 16, 2008

An Organization in Crisis

Devan Dubnyk was the only notable Falcons player to play well this weekend. Sure Geoff Paukovich had a nice game, but Geoff Paukovich won't win you many games at the AHL level. The rest of the Falcons squad was MIA. The Falcons were outshot 43-21 on Friday in a 2-1 SO win, Saturday's game was cancelled due to a power outage, and Sunday they were outshot 35-11, 11 freaking shots! They had a PP early in the 3rd and couldn't get set up in the zone ONCE.

They fell 3-0 to Worcester and late in the game Rob Schremp went missing for about 10 minutes in the 3rd to appear for 1 shift and then went MIA again for the remaining 4 or 5 minutes left in the game.
I don't know if Schremp was benched, nursing an injury, etc. However he seemed to be doing what the Oilers have been wanting him to do, dump the puck in and play with some grit. It was far from a great game from Schremp, as a matter of fact it was a poor game offensively for him. If he wore the goat horns after this loss despite other offensive leaders like Brule, Potulny, and Trukhno didn't do jack squat themselves, I have to wonder why?

The only real positives in this game were Dubnyk's goaltending (minus the 3rd goal), Paukovich's physical play, Lefebvre's physical play, and some big time hits from Young and Peckham on the blueline. The rest was garbage, pure unadulterated garbage.

Where have I heard this story before? Team hangs goalie out to dry and coach wants a team full of grinders and can't assemble his lines and PP properly?

Here's a hint to the Falcons and their coaching staff, just because Devan Dubnyk has reddish colored hair doesn't mean that you let the opposition beat him like a red headed stepchild.

5 comments:

hunter1909 said...

All organisations are essentially driven by those at the top.

The last many seasons Oilers are essentially living in the pre-cap mindset...that is, toss out muckers and grinders and don't get too excited about anything like natural scoring ability because sooner or later it's going to be leaving town just like the other ones before. This is why Pisani Horcoff etc get twice the money they would make anywhere else. After all, they might be grinders, but the current management still needs superstar grinders, or some kind of thing like that.

This rotten attitude permeates the entire sad sack collection of alumni Oilers currently running the team, some of which I'm sure must know what they're doing, others who keep their jobs thanks to the EIG culture of entitlement etc.

Someone could probably write a paper on Kevin Lowe's father/son issues with Slats. it's that bad.

Right now the heads running the organisation are still attemtpting to use the same old blackmail pitch to us fans that implies that we're lucky to even have them at all.

Meanwhile one of my all time favorite Oilers Paul Coffey, who for all I know would love to come here and help work to make his favorite team of all time great again will never in a million years ever be invited to do so. And that's another psychologically driven paper, haha.

Fortunately for us Bryan, the team now has a serious owner who I personally have no reason to think is any different than us fans. You don't get that rich by being anything less than exceptionally bright. Katz no doubt is prepared to allow these current Oiler managers a certain amount of leeway, until he understands what's going on. Once he does, he will no doubt act, for the good of the team.

I said the team, not the interests of the current managment.

Big changes are coming and the sooner the better.

The on ice product of the "big club" simply cannot sustain itself very much longer.

PS: I'm looking forward to seeing just where MacTavish ends up, after he's fired. After all, we've heard for a long time just how superior he is, and how he will be hired in no time by another team. I'm really looking forward to MacTavish on that other team.

hunter1909 said...

PS: One would certainly imagine Katz/his management(Tambellini?) eventually reforming the rotten Oilers AHL situation, once and for all.

The bush league EIG management "style, of losing dollars to save pennies won't wash anymore. A real NHL team will have a fully functioning AHL affiliate.

What's the coach like in Springfield? From what you describe, he sounds terrible.

Bryanbryoil said...

I thought that Truitt would have a clue since he came from outside of the organization, but he's not cutting it. No coach in this organization has any creativity. When you team has as many offensive tools as the Oilers and Falcons do and you're scoring less than 3 goals a game, you have some serious coaching issues.

hunter1909 said...

I don't know if I would know how to hire a coach for a professional sports team.

Obviously merely hiring someone outside the organisation won't cut it. Simply using that as a criteria, I could coach lol.

Bowman went nowhere until he was hired by the Canadiens. You would imagine there are a few talented coaches out there, just itching for the opportunity.

Hell, if I were Katz right now and as pissed as I feel, I'd get on the phone and tell Kevin Lowe to pack his bags and turn the Falcons around. With a 1 way ticket, if necessary.

Bryanbryoil said...

You have to wonder what Katz is thinking? Shelling out big bucks, trying to put his stamp on a class organization, and instead it's the same old crap.

We are not getting a very big bang for the buck. With the world's financial slowdown, how many people will look to renew tickets next season if the Alberta economy takes a major hit?

Who is willing to pay big $ for a bunch of high priced players that are led around by a guy that won't change, and shell out their hard earned dough for guys making tns of $ and dragging their butts?

Katz can finance a black hole, but he didn't grow his wealth by investing into money pits.