MacTavish says better days ahead for Oilers

"I think the fans have seen and appreciate we can now make six or seven passes and still have the puck."

Do the players also get praise when they skate through all the cones at practice without knocking any over?

The things that come out of mouth. Just incredible. How do Oilers fans tolerate this idiot? I truly feel sorry for them.
 
I like the majority of what was said by him in the presser.
The 2 year extension to Yakupov was a great start to the offseason. Love this signing and proves to this Oiler fan that Yak has a heart of gold and pure dedication to growing this team into something much better!

IMO, the obvious off-season goals for the Oilers are to:
- Hopefully lock up Nelson and Roy...they are vital pieces of what worked the last half of the season!! I'm drawing positives...Yak and those two are just that)
- Let Viktor Vasth walk and find a number 1 goalie... I'd love to see MacT do whatever he can to get pending UFA Niemi...he'd be a good fit as long as he want's to sign here.
- Try and trade Nikitin for anything... that was one of the worst league signing's last off-season by a mile!
- Move out the additional dead weight... (Gazdic, Purcell, Klinkhammer, Aulie, NN, and any useless and fizzled AHL prospects that have "Schremp" written all over them!

I'm sure I will get the regular "Oilers Suck" poster's chiming in, but whatever!
This team will only get better with a bit more patience and the right off-season moves!
 
That's the problem, MacT is all talk! He's been the GM since April 15, 2013. The players you complain of ... Fasth, Nikitin, Purcell, Klinkhammer, Aulie ... Who was the GM that brought those guys in??
 
OilersRule said:
I like the majority of what was said by him in the presser.
The 2 year extension to Yakupov was a great start to the offseason. Love this signing and proves to this Oiler fan that Yak has a heart of gold and pure dedication to growing this team into something much better!

IMO, the obvious off-season goals for the Oilers are to:
- Hopefully lock up Nelson and Roy...they are vital pieces of what worked the last half of the season!! I'm drawing positives...Yak and those two are just that)
- Let Viktor Vasth walk and find a number 1 goalie... I'd love to see MacT do whatever he can to get pending UFA Niemi...he'd be a good fit as long as he want's to sign here.
- Try and trade Nikitin for anything... that was one of the worst league signing's last off-season by a mile!
- Move out the additional dead weight... (Gazdic, Purcell, Klinkhammer, Aulie, NN, and any useless and fizzled AHL prospects that have "Schremp" written all over them!

I'm sure I will get the regular "Oilers Suck" poster's chiming in, but whatever!
This team will only get better with a bit more patience and the right off-season moves!
Click to expand...

I am an Oiler fan as well, and I don't mind Klinkhammer. He's a useful fourth line player who competes and bangs bodies, which is something Edmonton needs more of. The biggest issue with this team is defense, not goaltending. Yes, Fasth and Scrivens aren't world-beaters, but they sure aren't as bad as their numbers would indicate this season (save percentage in particular). Personally, I don't believe Niemi will be any upgrade at all over what the Oil already have. They would be much better served to try and acquire a legitimate top-pair defenseman, which will most certainly cost one of the young forwards (as much as I hate to say it, perhaps Taylor Hall is the one they will have to part with to help solve their defensive problems).

Edit: Sorry for my somewhat disorganized post, I was trying to condense it down just a little bit XD
 
I read the recap of his press conference.... and the thing that is the most disheartening is that he seems to think Nelson benefited simply from good timing, and that the coaching change had nothing to do with the uptick in how the team played in 2015. If he really believes that - he's a bigger fool than I thought.

The coaching situation is a really interesting one. Seems to refuse to commit to Nelson, but won't rule out bringing him back either. What does that mean?? It means there are one or two people MacT would rather have (i.e. Babcock) but Nelson is still plan C.


Great way to run a team.
 
Bottom line - until ownership decides to run the team with competent hockey people - and not just his buddies - I'm not holding my breath on when the the Oilers finally turn it around. Until then - this team is as badly run as the Washington Redskins - with an worse owner...

I get why he would couch his words with regards to the Head Coach - given that potential big names like Babcock, McLellan, Tippett, DeBoer, MacLean or Julien could be on the market, but given that would be another new coach for this team again - when Nelson has clearly gotten buy-in from the players, which you definitely couldn't say when they had Eakins running things.
 
With all the high dp and another one this year theycan only go up. They need a starting goalie, some D and forwards with leadership Patrick Sharp comes to mind.
 
newfiecomicguy1 said:
With all the high dp and another one this year theycan only go up. They need a starting goalie, some D and forwards with leadership Patrick Sharp comes to mind.
Click to expand...

For Patrick Sharp, who can Edm give back? Edm has drafted so poorly that there aren't any prospects that the Hawks would even be interested in. Draisaitl? a 2nd round pick?

Florida and Buffalo have more prospects to offer. Plus both can carry his contract to reach the cap floor. Edm is already pretty cap heavy. Sharp is a salary dump. Given that situation, Sharp isn't going to Edm.

Sharp has a NMC/Modified NTC. So he gets to pick where he goes. If he feel comfortable going to Florida and reuniting with Dale Tallon, and paying less tax, I'm sure he's headed there first.
 
Ottawa will help solve some of the issues the Oilers have. I can see them targeting Taylor Hall in a deal that would include Craig Anderson, Mike Hoffman and a 1st round pick
 
frankiefives said:
Ottawa will help solve some of the issues the Oilers have. I can see them targeting Taylor Hall in a deal that would include Craig Anderson, Mike Hoffman and a 1st round pick
Click to expand...

Honestly, I don't know that this deal would help the Oilers a whole lot. They would be giving up their best player for a mid-level (at best) goaltender, a forward who is more of what they already have (smallish skilled offensive guy) plus a first round pick that won't help them in the short term. I would much rather see if they could manage to get Dougie Hamilton to sign an offer sheet in an attempt to take advantage of the Bruins salary cap issues, then move Hall for another top pair defenseman (they may have to add another player or a draft pick or something, but that could be figured out). That way they can put Fayne on the second pair where he belongs, along with either Klefbom (who's quietly been the best Oiler d-man this year) or someone they bring in as a UFA.
 

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