This team cannot afford to dump young players and prospects to make one Hail Mary attempt at the Cup. The team simply does not have the quality or quantity of veterans to get the job done. Doing so would set the Oilers back into the dark ages of the early to mid 90's.
With stable ownership for the first time in decades, it is time to do this right. Rebuild! We have some nice young players to lead us forward in Hemsky, Cogliano, Gagner, Gilbert, Grebeshkov, Smid, and Brodziak.
It's time to shed ourselves of all but a select few veterans and stock up on picks and quality young players in hope of landing a Ryan Getzlaf, Mike Richards, Shea Weber, Patrick O'Sullivam, or Zach Parise in the mid-late 1st or 2nd round. By accumulating a pile of picks in a strong draft, we increase our odds exponentially.
Even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in awhile (see Oilers scouts and Hemsky, Ales). With a seamless transition to the NHL being made by more and more 18 and 19 year olds than what has been seen in recent history (the last 5-10 years), the team could be back on track in a hurry.
This team does not need to make 1 last ditch effort at the cup, the inexperienced roster would be too much of a liability against seasoned veteran teams in a playoff series.
Pronger-Lupul-Pitkanen-Cole-Nothing? That is how bottom feeding teams are made.
Hopefully the loss of Visnovsky drops us out of the playoff race in a hurry before management does something stupid by sacrificing the future for a lost cause in the present.
It's been 15+ years in the making, a true and proper rebuild is needed. Anything less will likely lead to more failure.
No comments:
Post a Comment