Best player on the team you say? Sorry, no spot for you on the big club. Why? Because they are world beaters and one of the best teams in the NHL? Are you high? This is the Edmonton Oilers we're talking about people, middle of the pack, scratching and clawing for a playoff berth and a short slide away from being on the outside looking in for the third year in a row.
To start the year Rob Schremp was the best Falcon, he got 4 NHL games for his troubles only because of an injury to Robert Nilsson. Then he was sent down and his play dipped. Enter Ryan Potulny, he gets an injury recall after being the Falcons best player and does well, yup you guessed it, players got healthy and he went back down. Gilbert Brule didn't do much in his first stint and never got a call while being the Falcons best player but on his 2nd stint he showed some promise but was then sent down when players returned. Potulny was then sent down for the 2nd time and hasn't been the same since.
All the while Liam (Toby) Reddox has been an NHL fixture despite never being even one of the top 4 Falcons forwards at any time this season. Now Potulny is looking like Schremp was after getting sent down earlier in the year now that he has gotten to see his future here in the same light that Schremp saw his after his demotion.
Where's the motivation? These guys have a dream to be in the NHL, yet they know that they are screwed out of their dream no matter how well that they play because of the coach and management. This doesn't keep the Falcons players on their toes, all that it does is provide a strong dislike for the organization.
A fully functional team rewards their best farm hands with a chance to earn a spot at the NHL level, a dysfunctional team chooses its favorites and sticks to them no matter what happens on the farm. The players on the big club have no motivation to battle for their roster spot and the players on the farm have no motivation to sacrifice their bodies in the hope of earning a chance.
In the end all there is is mediocrity. You can't spell mediocrity with out an M and a T, isn't that right MacT?
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