MacT Hopefully Sent His Last Parting Shot At Penner and Nilsson

The new GM probably isn't doing MacT any favors in terms of his job security, and Craig Mactavish certainly isn't doing Tambellini and either. In sitting Penner and Nilsson, it raises yet another red flag on these players to opposing organizations. That has been one of Mactavish's biggest weaknesses as coach. Bitch about what you don't have and how crappy your players are without taking the time to realize that your GM can't polish what you've announced to the rest of the league is a turd.

Penner, Nilsson, Schremp, Pouliot, Winchester, Rita, Garon, Conklin, the list goes on and on. Did it ever occur to this man that as a result of his bitching that he made his job and that of his friend THAT much harder? You NEVER diminish your assets value. Asset management is a major part of any business. Buying high and selling low is a great recipe to be getting bailouts from the US government or going tits up as a business.

Hopefully this is the last "jab" from this coach, and Tambellini can tell the potential new coaches to do their frickin job and let him do his. That's what SMART businesses do.

MacT's Potential Departure Could Make Edmonton a Much More Desireable NHL Destination

With Sheldon Souray, Ales Hemsky, Robert Nilsson, Dustin Penner, and Ladislav Smid (at the very least) all hoping that there will be a new coach next season or probably hoping that they get moved away from this once proud organization, it is not a place that perspective free agents want to come to.

Low offensive output from the forwards, a boring style of play, and mediocrity are hardly the criteria that free agents are looking for when they try to decide where they want to reside and work for a number of years.

A change of the coaching staff and shedding ourselves of overpaid vets like Moreau, Staios, and Pisani could really get this team looking like a suitable destination for free agents. We have a lot of talent on this roster and if they are freed up to play a style that matches their skill sets more it will make us an exciting team that will also put up some nice offensive production.

Everyone loves a winner, and everyone enjoys having fun at work vs. the alternative. If Souray and Hemsky don't like it here because of the coach despite obviously liking it enough to sign on here long term, it's obvious what needs to be done. Fire MacT, trade Moreau and Staios, and unleash the skilled forwards that have been neutered under MacT's system.

And who knows, maybe a new coach will be the icing on the cake needed for this team to lure Bouwmeester?

As if Reddox On the Top Line Wasn't Enough For 'Ya!

Now we end up with Fernando Pisani on the top PP unit, Seriously people, we are in a playoff race, this is not the time to try stuff that would get junior coaches shit canned. If you are a Craig Mactavish fan (hard to believe that a MacT fan would frequent my Blog), this HAS to have you asking WTF?

Yes I've heard the whole Reddox on the top line shtick about power Vs. power. The interesting thing is that he wasn't even in that role in Springfield, but once he steps into the NHL suddenly he's ready to take on and outscore the best that the NHL has to offer? I call bull shit. But at least that is something that people could hang their hat on and use as a crutch if necessary.

But the top PP unit with our PP QB and Souray? We get that MacT has a hard on for Dustin Penner and that he'd rather give an usherette his minutes on the top PP unit, but besides Penner there is this other fella that we just acquired named Patrick O'Sullivan. Yeah, a LH shooter that can carry and dish the puck pretty damn well to boot.

Instead of placing him into a situation to succeed, once again MacT is looking to mold players into his morbidly boring style of play. Just what we needed, to acquire a guy with a $3 millionish cap hit to treat him like Penner or Nilsson. This is getting beyond ridiculous. MacT wishes that he could have 3 lines of Liam Reddox' and Fernando Pisani's and 1 line of highly skilled players like Hemsky and Horcoff, yeah I said it, Horcoff.

There needs to be a new coach, I was of the approach that we may as well just wait until the end of the year, but quite frankly, I don't want to see O'Sullivan crapped on the same way that Penner, Nilsson, Schremp, Garon, etc. have been crapped on. Fire this worthless bum already, taking crap only motivates you so much before you start bucking the system.

Enough is enough Lowe, no matter who you bring in this checker fanboy will try to screw with their head and use them out of position or place them in a situation to fail. By any means necessary get rid of MacT. It's been painfully obvious that this is a decision that has been years overdue.

If My Wife Went to More Games, MacT's Job Might've Been on the Line By Now

My wife is on one of her marathon vacations back home in Alberta (she needs one living with me!), and she has taken in 3 games in that time. The 9-2 loss to Chicago, a 5-1 loss to SJ, and tonight's 10-2 ass whupping by one of her two favorite teams the Buffalo Sabres.

In the other games I asked her to cheer against the Oilers as I would've at the time to get a new coach in place, tonight she needed no coaxing with the Sabres in town. Losing 2 games in the same season by scores of 10-2 and 9-2 is an absolute joke as far as I'm concerned. Once again I am calling for a change in coaching. For crying out loud, even the hapless Falcons haven't been bent over and done dry by Bubba the way that the Oilers have been twice this season.

It really is too bad that my wife didn't get a chance to see more Oilers games on her trip back home, because maybe, just maybe the coach would've been held accountable for numerous unsolicited back dooring sessions by other NHL teams.

Hell, I should see if I can pick her up another ticket before she comes back :)

Why MacT Must Go, and Why Lowe Won't

The coach at the start of the year was very outspoken about how this was a division leading type of a club. Half the season later, and they aren't anywhere near that level. Injuries are not a valid excuse, prior to Hemsky's recent concussion, this has been a relatively healthy team.

Pisani and MacIntyre are really the only 2 Oilers that sustained lengthy injuries. So how can a team that has been healthy fall so far short of what it is expected to accomplish? If the coach felt that he had a team full of deficiencies he would've been a fool to raise expectations so high.

Whether you are a MacT booster or you dislike him, he is an intelligent man. MacT "haters" like myself dislike him for his stubbornness not because I think that he couldn't spell potato like a former US Vice President couldn't.

Lowe has been bumped into a very secure job. Daryl Katz' right hand man. Katz would not have trusted Lowe to be his right hand man if he didn't feel that Lowe would do a good job of overseeing the team.

No matter what Kevin Lowe may or may not have accomplished in his time as Edmontons GM, he is all but immune to the current on ice product, unless the town sours on the team and the bottom line goes head first into the toilet.

Unless Tambellini can do in a few weeks what Lowe failed to do for 7 of his 8 seasons as a GM, the best method of change and the easiest is to replace the coach. Sometimes a fresh new approach gets teams to play above their heads. The Oilers did as much in the '05-06 playoffs, but didn't prior to that and haven't since for that matter.

A change in coaching will see who may have been held back by MacT's system, and who is just flat out an anchor on this team. It would be wise for the GM to get a new coach to reevaluate the players in the room.

The last thing that we need is to trade away players that could've flourished here under a different system for more players that will fail under this current system.

Lowe rightly or wrongly won't be going anywhere, Tambellini hasn't even been broken in yet as GM, there is only one way to go unless Tambellini can pull off a coups like Lowe did with Pronger from St. Louis.

A MacChicken Flopping Around With His Head Cut Off

Once the players start to revolt, it's time to fire the coach. When someone is willing to give up control in their life of where they live and work to voice their displeasure, nothing short of them leaving or having the negative issue dealt with will resolve the teams problems.

Hell even Ethan Moreau wasn't busting his tail out there against LA. No one wants to work hard for someone that disrespects them and makes them do things that they don't want to do. If MacT wants to force employees into doing things that they don't want to do, he should become a pimp. A salt and pepper curly haired pimp with a hockey stick for a cane and some new bling to match his pink Cadillac.

Making a trade and then firing the coach is fruitless. Guys that have taken some serious flak from MacT could end up thriving under someone that believes in them and allows them to play their game. This list includes Penner, Nilsson, Garon, Brodziak, and Schremp.

Come on Katz, Tambellini, Lowe, whoever is running this mess, it's time for a change. We don't need anymore of this crap. We already have Cole, Visnovsky, and Strudwick as new faces. There is nowhere to go but up, but we won't go up until the organization gets down with the fact that MacT's got to go.

It's time to toss out the bad apple instead of once again throwing out the entire basket. A new coach is needed, even if Lowe has to come down from his high horse for a few games until a replacement is found.

Put this MacChicken out of its misery already LoKabellini!

"It Was a Lack of Offense"

Really? I have been clamoring for this team to roll with 3 true scoring lines. It eases some of the competition against some of you offensive players and it makes you a tough team to match up against.

I made a blog post a few days ago saying how the Oilers were equally as bad offensively and defensively, yet the team chose solely to try to rectify their defensive and PK woes by bringing up Tim Sestito.

What they didn't do was try to shore up their offensive woes. Rob Schremp is dying for a chance, and Gilbert Brule must be wanting a change of address to the great white north as well. Schremp only has 8 points in his last 4 games in Springfield, but why would you want a guy like that on the Oilers? Brule has been good for almost a goal a game of late as well.

If you want to make a statement to your team, you call up these 2 and drop, Horcoff off the top PP unit and insert Schremp. You make Nilsson a HS and insert Schremp. You sit out whoever and get Brule in there and give him 2nd PP minutes as well as top 9 time.

Playing musical chairs with the Stortini's and Brodziak's of the world does nothing. Having hungry and ultra talented kids threatening the job of the under producing top 6 guys on the other hand, THAT is how you send a message.

However more offense will probably mean that Spurgeon gets the call.

Old Habits Die Hard, and so do Old Coaches

The Oilers are the 6th worst defensive team in the Western Conference and the 5th worst offensive team in the Western Conference, so which deficiency do you think that Craig Mactavish is trying to shore up? Do I even need to bother wasting my finger tips telling you?

My finger tips thank you! The last 2 forward call ups are defensive oriented and PK oriented players. It's a given that the Oilers PK is brutal (2nd worst in the league with a 73.9% "efficiency" ) however after years of hearing from people that an AHL PP specialist wouldn't help the big clubs PP, why is it that it is different for an AHL PK specialist?

Craig Mactavish has resorted to falling back on the same things that got him to the SCF 3 years ago, and also has kept him out of the postseason more often than not in his time behind the Oilers bench. Heart, grit, defensive play, and "jam" over offense. The beauty of it, is that unless the Oilers top 6 forwards start to produce in a big way, this time it will cost him his job.

Moreau on the top line, Sestito and Reddox over Schremp, Potulny, and Brule, Smid at forward over calling up an offensive forward. For once in his Oilers coaching life Craig Mactavish is being held accountable for his actions, and he's relying on what has failed himself and the team so many times in the past to keep his job. Time for one last glorious failure MacT, let's see just how bad you can screw it up this time.

As we say in Hawaii, "Aloha Oi" Craig Mactavish, or in English until we meet again Craig Mactavish.

MacT Countdown?

With 2 of the next 3 games against the Detroit Redwings, Dustin Penner and Mathieu Garon (our leading goalscorer and best goalie last season) eating popcorn in the pressbox after getting different degrees of public ridicule, times could be a changing. The Oilers have now lost their last 2 games and after a 4-0 start have gone 4-7-2. The Oilers have the 8th lowest GA and the 5th lowest GF in the conference with only 1 team having less GF in the same amount of games as the Oilers.

This is clearly a team on the ropes. Perhaps this could be a defining moment in Mactavish's career with the Oilers, they square off with Detroit twice and also with Columbus in their next 3 games. They need at least 1 win in this stretch and they need to start showing improvement. This team has been on stagnate mode ever since the preseason. If we have to endure the team getting beaten time and time again in this 3 game stretch, hopefully the Oilers will mercifully fire the coach so that this team can turn the corner.

What are the Signs that You Need a New Coach?

Craig Mactavish has complained of his teams lack of systems and their stubbornness. However this is the same coach that will beat dead horses into dog food, the same man that was so stubborned that he refused to wear a helmet, the same man that has been leading the mediocrity charge of the Oilers for the last 8 seasons.

There comes a time when a coach's welcome and usefulness has run its course unless that coach is an alltime great and he steps down.

Craig Mactavish is NOT that good of a coach. What is worse than a team playing for a coach who is too stubborned to change and in turn the players don't feel that they are being placed into a situation to succeed? Once you lose faith in your coach, you may as well not have a coach. Too much inconsistency, no accountability, minimal faith in guys that aren't MacT favorites.

The moment that a coach admits that the team doesn't listen to his instructions and keep doing the same things over and over again, is the minute that the coach needs to get canned. The team isn't buying what he's selling no matter how many cups he may have to his name. What a beautiful world it could've been.

Amazing that he has still decided to hold on after a horrible '06-07 season and another poor season until a 20 game surge at the end, and now once again another mediocre at best stretch. Perhaps he should start considering sparing his friend from having to drop the axe, and axe that I've been grinding for many, many years.

I Call Shenanigans

So let me get this right, the Oilers roll with 3 goalies to start the year, they acquire Steve MacIntyre via waivers, and Rob Schremp's NHL dream is stalled. A dream that followed an AHL Allstar appearance, going down to California to work hard with Chad Moreau so that he could improve on his biggest weaknesses.

Camp rolls around, Schremp has a respectable camp, nothing too great or too bad. He should've been better, but he wasn't. His grandfather passes away, he takes time to grieve the loss. He comes back to officially find out that his NHL dream has been dashed once again. He goes down to Springfield, leads them in points and ES points while being a +2 and their best player on most nights.

MacIntyre gets hurt, the Oilers then claim Jesse Boulerice. Spot gone once again. Robert Nilsson once again falls out of favor with Craig Mactavish, now the dynamic kid that was a driving force late last season has been relegated to low man on the totem pole playing with Kyle Brodziak and Zack Stortini.

For those that pay attention to Oilers prospects, they will know that when Robert Nilsson was traded to the Oilers organization, he went to Wilkes-Barre Scranton and teamed with Rob Schremp, they had what may have been their best stretch of AHL games.

Together Nilsson went for 4-13-17 in 14gp. and Schremp went for 6-9-15 in 14gp. Why on God's green earth would MacT want to reunite these 2? Why would he want to give Nilsson another skilled player to play with? Why would he want Schremp to have a familiar face to welcome him to the NHL?

The Oilers recall Liam Reddox. The diminutive but chippy player with some skill who came out of nowhere last season to become a solid AHL player. At the end of Saturday, Reddox was my 5th ranked forward in terms of a callup and the 6th ranked player overall. This is spitting in a players face if I have ever seen it.

At this point, I am ready to cheer the Oilers onto defeat just so that we can rid ourselves of this coach. I did it in '06-07 in the dive for 5, and I am doing it again. For this team to take the next step, we need a new mindset and a new coach.

A New Owner, and a New GM, Time For a New Coach

Craig MacTavish needs to go. His teams over the last 8 years have been inconsistent and often times it seems like they flat out don't give a fuck. Quite frankly I'm sick of it and the team that had a shiny luster from the new blood transfusion it got from the arrival of Daryl Katz, Steve Tambellini, Erik Cole, and Lubomir Visnovsky is now about as dull as cardboard. Not a lifesize cardboard cutout of a supermodel, just straight up cardboard.

It's always the same story with this team under MacTavish, inconsistent, long stretches of playing uninspired hockey, and mediocrity. Katz promoted Kevin Lowe to President so he obviously has confidence in him. However if he does then he must be wondering why a team so close to the cap can be so poor.

I don't know who will instigate the discussion about a coaching change, but it needs to happen. Missing the postseason again and watching a bunch of handsomely paid individuals going through the motions yet again is not acceptable. If this is truly a new era for Oilers hockey, and this team wants respect, then there's not other way. It's time for the axe to fall, get it done.