The Edmonton Oilers are in a whole heap of trouble. They’re seven points out of the final wild card spot, have a generational talent in Connor McDavid surrounded by floundering contracts, and fired general manager Peter Chiarelli after he inked 30-year-old goaltender Mikko Koskinen to a three-year, $13.5 million deal that includes a modified no-trade clause. Koskinen’s played in 51 career games in the NHL and has a 3.00 goals against average and a .905 save percentage.
Oilers fans took their concerns to CEO and vice-chairman of the Oilers Entertainment Group Bob Nicholson Monday during a season ticket holder breakfast.
One of those ticket holders, Paul Almeida, took to Twitter to document the event and share his thoughts, and it details some of the inner workings of the Oilers organization.
Was at the #Oilers season seat holder reception this morning.
Quite a bit of frustration in the room over the situation the club is in & how they got there.
A couple of admissions by Bob Nicholson. No previous GM hires had an interview process & analytics rarely used recently.— Paul Almeida (@AzorcanGlobal) March 19, 2019
To start, the Oilers need a new GM. Previously, no GM hire needed an interview. This time around the Oilers have not even started the process because there are still a fair number of teams in the playoff hunt, and they haven’t given Edmonton permission to talk to those employees.
Bob Nicholson stated that the GM search in regards to interviews has not begun as teams have been hesitant to give the #Oilers permission to interview their employees until their team is eliminated from the playoffs.
Crazy to think Edmonton MAY go into the draft without a GM.— Paul Almeida (@AzorcanGlobal) March 19, 2019
Fans also were irritated that a top priority for the club was getting a top-pairing defenseman when past deals could have provided that player.
Nicholson also stated that getting a top 2 defrnceman was a top priority which caused one seat holders to quip “that’s what trading Taylor Hall should have got us”
— Paul Almeida (@AzorcanGlobal) March 19, 2019
Additionally, Nicholson noted that “culture” and “character” where the traits he was looking for in the Oilers lineup, not talent.
Bob Nicholsin when pressed about the lineup focused on “culture” and “character.” Thats is alarming to me. This team needs more skill not just more character.
Many good teams have highly skilled players with questionable character. Not every player needs to be a choir boy.— Paul Almeida (@AzorcanGlobal) March 19, 2019
Almeida has decided to not renew his season ticket package, and polled the rest of Oilers Nation on where the team might be in 3-6 years given the current regime.
The https://t.co/S77J09BW4Y Poll
As an #Oilers fan what is your current sentiment on the ability of the club in the next 3 to 6 years to ice a team that can compete for a #StanleyCup ?
— Paul Almeida (@AzorcanGlobal) March 19, 2019
As of now, almost 2,500 people have voted and 50 percent are “not optimistic” that the club will compete for a Stanley Cup in the next three to six years.
Headline photo: @EdmontonOilers
