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Edmonton Oilers Refuse To Right Their Season

By Catherine Silverman

Dec 3, 2014; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Winnipeg Jets forward Mathieu Perreault (85) tips a Winnipeg Jets defenceman Jacob Trouba (8) (not shown) shot past Edmonton Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens (30) during the overtime period at MTS Centre. Winnipeg wins in overtime 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 3, 2014; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Winnipeg Jets forward Mathieu Perreault (85) tips a Winnipeg Jets defenceman Jacob Trouba (8) (not shown) shot past Edmonton Oilers goalie Ben Scrivens (30) during the overtime period at MTS Centre. Winnipeg wins in overtime 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Edmonton Oilers need the most help of all — yet they’re the only team in the NHL not seeking it

#HereComeTheOilers.

On Thursday, a lot of NHL teams basically collapsed in maybe the most one-sided night of hockey ever.

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The Edmonton Oilers weren’t one of those teams — but when you’re on an eleven-game losing skid, every day is a perfect day to panic.

When the Oilers announced that general manager Craig MacTavish would be having a press conference, therefore, we all (read: me) pretty much assumed that meant they were finally hopping on board and either sending out a league-wide S.O.S. or announcing that they were completely dismantling the front office in lieu of an entirely new regime.

How wrong I was.

Instead of using the presser for something productive, MacTavish spent half an hour pointing fingers at the administration that had preceeded him, then concluded with ‘we have a really great team and they look better than they are. I’m not sure why they’re losing, but we’ll figure it out.’

If that wasn’t bad enough, Friday was actually a pretty active day for the NHL trade market — with two players placed on waivers and one fairly decent player swap, it became pretty clear that teams struggling into December are more than willing to shake things up in order to get better.

Do you know which team wasn’t involved in any of these moves, though?

If you said the Edmonton Oilers, you’d be correct.

The Arizona Coyotes win the prize for most active team on Friday, placing forward Kyle Chipchura on waivers, swapping out defenseman David Schlemko with defensive prospect Andrew Campbell on the active roster, recalling forward Jordan Martinook, and trading winger Rob Klinkhammer with a conditional 2016 draft pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins for defenseman Philip Samuelsson. Of course, the Penguins get a nod for picking up Klinkhammer to replace a number of offensive injuries, and the New Jersey Devils rounded out the day’s action by placing forward Damien Brunner on waivers.

It’s clear that a number of teams were ready to make changes — so why didn’t the Oilers get involved?

It makes sense for the other teams at the bottom of the league to stay out of negotiations. The Columbus Blue Jackets are suffering more from injuries than anything else, the Buffalo Sabres are already trending upward, and the Carolina Hurricanes aren’t likely to make any big changes before Jordan Staal re-enters the lineup. With three first overall picks in five seasons, though, it’s clear that the ‘tank and rebuild’ strategy isn’t helping Edmonton — and it’s clear that having a star lineup on offense isn’t doing much in the way of helping, either.

With a number of teams still alluding to big shake-ups, it could be that the Oilers are simply waiting to strike a deal with someone like the Boston Bruins or the Philadelphia Flyers… but after that press conference, it looks more like the team’s administration just refuse to own up to facts — they have a bad team.

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