Time for Change

Since the end of the season Edmonton Oiler management, players, media and fans alike have speculated about how to fix the team. One thing that seems to get lost in the fray is just how bad the team was. Last year, injuries tore the team apart and the faces of the future and no name call-ups carried the mail to an improbable ninth place finish.

This season, the team had only two major injuries to deal with, and it just so happened to be at a position of strength: defense. Losing the epitome of a "Risk-Reward" offensive blue liner like Lubomir Visnovsky hurt…but they are far from the only team to lose a top four player in this league. They also lost third line stalwart, and give me a minute to summon my best Kevin Quinn impression here, FERRRRRRRRRRRRNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANDOOOOOOOOOOOOO PISANI. Yet, the Oilers managed to play virtually the entire season with so-called key veterans Sheldon "Thunder Throat" Souray, Shawn "Don't Call Me Scorecoff" Horcoff, Ethan "They Call Me Chopper Because I Loves Me The Lazy Slash" Moreau, and brought in new talent to go with those young guys who clearly were above second year struggles. And what did it add up to?

Eleventh place. Six points out of the final spot and a laughable three wins in ten games to close the year. If that's fighting for your playoff lives, this version of the Oilers was nothing more than a typical Butterbean opponent.

So when it comes to blame, I find it fascinating that people drew their land in the sand. There were factions about the coach, the management, this player or that player. Lately, there have been very few published accounts that call a spade a spade and place the blame on several shoulders. Dan Barnes at the Edmonton Journal over the last week published stories about the fault falling on players, coaches AND management for failing with a team at the top end of the salary cap.

Of course, at the time of writing, General Manager Steve Tambellini announced the decision to change the head coach. But his press conference to this point has been placing the blame around as well. He's not scapegoating the coach, and immediately stated that the changing the coach doesn't absolve the players and they need to be better and things need to change.

It excites me to discuss the fact that the offseason could be very interesting. Tambellini sounds like a man with a desire to change the make-up of the team and to build a better system. When asked if he has a shortlist of coaches, he leaves it open to wait for coaches to become available. One quote fills me with the optimism that Tambellini is not interested in giving the job to a former Oiler like Kelly Buchberger, but would like to get the best coach available:

"We have to stop looking back. It's time to start looking forward."

Stay tuned folks; this summer could spell the end of the incestuous Oiler way, and the start of building a team to chase a spot higher than eighth.