Pathetic. Post-Game Fan Reaction: Oilers vs Avalanche

Okay. Uh, this is future Austin here. I just recorded the fan reaction and you will all see what my thoughts were on the game very shortly. But when I stopped recording, I opened up Twitter and you know what I found out that no one in that leadership group, nobody, no Conor McDavid, no Leon Dry Cidle, no Ryan Nan Hopkins, no Darnell Nurse, and none of the goalies faced the media tonight. Nobody in the leadership group faced the media tonight after the game. And the goalies didn’t face the media. Now, what good would that have done? I don’t know. But I had to make a comment on that. That is pathetic. Pathetic. Bunch of Oh, I have so many words that I wish I could say now, but I already recorded the fan reaction. It’s embarrassing. It’s just crazy. Enjoy the fan reaction. I just had to get this out here. I I cannot believe that nobody on that leadership group spoke to the media after that performance. That’s unacceptable. Completely unacceptable. What are we doing? That is absolutely insane. What to do? What to do? What to say? What to say? There’s a few ways this video could go. There’s a few ways this video could go. I could scream like Steve Dangle until I’m blue in the face, pop a couple blood vessels in my brain, lose my voice, but all that would be doing is just hurting myself, right? Blow out the vocal cords, give myself a migraine. That doesn’t seem worth it. Why would that? That doesn’t seem worth it for a team that clearly had no interest in playing hockey tonight. That clearly was not ready to go from Chris Nlock. that clearly doesn’t know what to do because the lines are shuffled every 5 seconds with this group. I was talking to my dad earlier today and the Oilers held practice at Rogers place the last two days and then this morning at morning skate all of a sudden the lines that they had at practice were not the lines that they were going to run with tonight. Now, I don’t know about you, but if I’m a player, if I was a player, and we’re practicing, getting familiar with linemates for 48 hours for two straight practices after a day off, and then I show up on game day and on the on the on the lineup whiteboard in the in the locker room, my name is pencled in with two other guys that I did not practice with. You know how annoying that would be? You know how fed up I would be? I think tonight is a night where the players were fed up. They’re fed up with Chris Knobblock’s line blender. They’re fed up with the piss poor goalending. They are fed up with a system that kills their offensive ability to be creative and generate anything at all. This is a group that collectively decided, you know what, Chris Knobblock, we’re not playing tonight. We’re not playing. You didn’t have us ready to go. You clearly have no idea what you want as a head coach. So, what do I want as a player? And as a fan, if you were at the game tonight, I I’m so sorry. Could you It’s sad, right? The cameras, they’re always panning around the the crowd, right? And they always show the kids looking sad. And one, I hate when the media does that. Don’t show kids that are looking sad. Show the adults that are looking sad. Don’t show the kids. Kids don’t deserve to be laughed at or ridiculed during games. But also the fans that did pay hardearned money, I don’t remember what the score was. It was like 5-1 or 6-1 or something and some fans tried to start doing the wave for some reason. I don’t know what that’s all about. I mean, obviously that is much more entertaining than watching your team get absolutely ass blasted on home ice. It’s a completely unacceptable stretch of hockey that we’ve seen this team play. In October, I had a lot of fans commenting, “Oh, it’s the October Oilers. Don’t worry, they’ll turn it around.” The fact that this team consistently has to find a way to turn it around. They have to go on one of those miracle runs, an eightgame win streak, a 16game win streak. Something historic has to happen. McDavid puts up 30 points in 10 games, and we, you know, does things that hasn’t happened since the 80s. Oh, and the Oilers are suddenly back in a playoff race. Oh, and then they go on their deep run and it’s all honky dory, but you are playing with fire when you do this. The Oilers are 500. They are 66 and four on the season. And they are a team that very easily could maybe have one or two wins. This is a team that is playing uninspired, uninterested, boring hockey. And it starts at the top with Chris Knobblock. The fact that Stam Bowman went out and, you know, obviously losing Cory Perry, that’s a big loss to that locker room. Big voice, kept spirits up, would call guys out when they needed to be called out. Uh, you lose a Connor Brown who’s just a grinder. Goes to work 110% every single shift. You know what you get from him every shift, right? You lose a couple of these guys, but Stan Bowman went out and he injected some youth into this lineup. Matthew Seavoy made the team out of camp. Uh Stan Bowman went and traded for Ike Coward. They went and got Tomasek from overseas. Now Tomasek is not like, you know, he’s not like a kid by any stretch, but they added some youth to this lineup. And statistically, they should be a fast team. They should be able to skate. Chris Knobblock as a coach is coaching a system that prevents that from happening. This is a team that looks lethargic on a night-to-ight basis. Trent Frederick is in year one of an eight-year contract worth almost $4 million per season. You are losing 91 on home ice. Where is the emotion? I I’m I’m going to pose a question to everybody watching right now, whether you’re an Oilers fan or you’re a fan of another team and you want to see what my reaction is tonight. I want to ask you this. When your team, and there’s usually one blowout or two every single year, every team goes through it. Every team has one of those blowouts. When your team is getting blown out, when it is your team on your home ice getting blown out, is there ever a lack of emotion? Now, my second favorite team, many of you know, is the Boston Bruins. If the Bruins are losing, they actually just recently lost a game 7-2. And their coaching staff, Nico Sturm, he he called the whole group out. And that team has rattled off six straight wins. Mason Lori was scratched for five straight games. Kick in the ass. Chris Knobblock has no kick in the ass. When we when he talked about accountability earlier in the season, especially that Utah game, well, the next game, Evan Bousard had a game that was arguably worse than what Darnell Nurse was doing against Utah, and Evan Bousard saw regular shifts. Ike Howard has one penalty that he takes or one giveaway and he doesn’t get to play the rest of the game. Like, that’s that’s not accountability. at all. That is piss poor coaching. That is piss poor management of your assets. That is piss poor management of confidence. As a coach, you’re supposed to drive these guys. You are you are driving them. This is a veteran group that you know, maybe sometimes you don’t always have it, but clearly they they are missing something right now. But again, going back to the question, if your team is losing by a significant margin in the third period, do they just roll over, do they do they just show no emotion? Do the Are the Oilers incapable of showcasing emotion? Are they incapable of showing anything that resembles hockey on the ice? You’re getting blown out on home ice on a Saturday night. It’s a sat It’s hockey night in Canada. This is a nationally televised game. the whole country. Just watch all of you get your asses whooped by a significantly better opponent. The Colorado Avalanche deserved everything tonight. There will be fans mad that they had McKinnon out there on the power play late in the third period for Colorado when they were up 7-1 or 8-1 or whatever their last power play was. No. No. If if your opponent’s going to stink, keep running up the score. And if they’re not going to do anything about it emotionally, there was nobody on Edmonton that even tried to play emotional tonight. Nobody was throwing any hits. Nobody was trying to start scrums after whistles. Nobody was I don’t understand. I don’t understand. Maybe I grew up in an era of hockey that’s just too old school. Maybe everyone today in the NHL is softer than I’d like them to be. Now, I talked about not blowing up my vocal cords or giving myself a migraine at the start of this video because I said it wasn’t worth it. Maybe there is a significant number of players that think dropping the gloves and showcasing emotion in a blowout loss also isn’t worth it. Maybe you don’t want to get your your face caved in in a blowout. But then what are what do you want to do? Are you are you like what we saw tonight the team deems acceptable? and they’ll go in front of the cameras and they’ll say, “Well, that’s unacceptable.” And how about the goalending? I’m told every single day by a section of fans that the goalending is not the problem. Defensively, is is the biggest problem in Edmonton. And yes, defensively, obviously, the Oilers stink. They are not good. They do not generate high danger chances at a significant rate. They are giving up mid high danger chances than they did last season. Last year, the Oilers gave up the least amount of high danger chances in the entire NHL. This year, they’re on pace to give up bottom 10 amount, as in like they’re they’re they’re on pace to finish in the 20 to 30 range, which is not good. That’s really bad. They are giving up a lot of high danger chances, and they are not generating anything on their own. But the goalies are not instilling confidence in that group. And Kevin BX had talked about it in the first intermission, how a couple early goals can deflate your team and suck confidence and suck the life out of your uh locker room. And for the Oilers, this has to be the nail in the coffin on this goalending tandem. It has to be. You cannot sit here and say that you are a serious contending team. We are here to win a Stanley Cup and you c you cannot say that and then run with Stew and picks again. You absolutely can. I don’t care who you call up. Now, it’s not going to be Ingram. Ingram has dealt with so much personal stuff. Uh you let him play in the AHL all year long. That is a project. That is a long-term project that maybe he comes back at some point this season. Maybe it’s next season. I don’t know. But there should not be a timetable on him. And there should not be pressure for him to come up and be the guy. But honestly, at this point, you put Calvin Pickard on waiverss, you call it Matt Tomkins, you make a trade. I don’t care what you do, you cannot keep running this goalending tandem. You just cannot do it. Calvin Pickard is legitimately unplayable. And and it’s probably even sadder, too. Like again, I’m I’m mad at the goalending obviously, but you know what that says about the group in front of the goalies, too, that you know, a bad goal is let up and you just throw your hands in the air and give up. Says a lot about the the lack of character and the lack of team character in this group right now. Chris Knobblocks on the hot seat. In my day after discussion after the Dallas game, I said that his seat was probably a little bit warm. It’s like level one. It’s I alluded to like a car seat when you know car the the heated seat in a car, right? It has different levels. I alluded to the fact that NB block was probably on a level one hot seat. Nah, that’s probably up to level two or level three now. Honestly, I’m not I’m not joking. And whether you think NB block is the problem or not, or whether you think that the goalending is the problem or not, or whether you think the defense is the problem or not, or whether you think it’s the forward group that’s the problem or not, or maybe it’s Stan Bowman is the problem. The fact that it could be literally any of those, that’s a problem. This is an organizational issue. This team is not ready for the playoffs. They are not ready to go on a Stanley Cup run. Conor McDavid left money on the table to give this team an opportunity to add players. That money being left on the table does not kick in until next season. This season they are cashstrapped. Oh, but Zack Heyman’s coming back. You think Zack Heyman would have made a difference tonight? Honestly, ask yourself that. Do you think Zack Heyman would have made a difference tonight or Casper Kappa or Matias Yanmark? No. This is this is a a a roster issue, a team issue, a coaching issue, a goalending issue. There are so many problems to list right now. The team was finding ways to bank points, which is good. The fact that they’re even 500 right now, I think is a miracle. This is Dave Tippet levels of oh my god, they need something to spark this group. I don’t know what that is, but it starts with the goending in my opinion because no one else seems to know or have any of the answers. They’ve tried everything else. They fired Woodcraftoft two years ago. They revamped their defensive group. They’ve revamped the forward group. The only thing they haven’t tried to upgrade over the past two and a half almost three seasons now is the goalending. Sam Bowman, uh, throw this team a lifeline here and do something. Last year, the Colorado Avalanche were were doing what the Oilers were doing. They just couldn’t get a save. They were they they were up and down. They were around 500. They made two trades. They picked up Wedgewood and um I’m blanking on the other goalie’s name for some reason, but they picked up their two goalies. Right. You can’t run with this tandem anymore. You just can’t. It’s it’s it’s unacceptable. And I don’t care if you are the biggest Skinner apologist or the biggest Calvin Pickard apologist. We have to accept the reality that this team is not going to go anywhere with this current tandem. Plain and simple. Plain and simple. And obviously you could have had a Hall of Fame goalender. You could have had Patrick Wah in his prime or Dominic Hashik in his prime in front of this or behind this group tonight. Wouldn’t have made a difference because the team in front is also not playing inspired hockey at all. I am not taking questions tonight. It is taking everything in my power to just not lose my absolute marbles. Uh, if I didn’t have three cats that are sleeping right now, and if I did not have upstairs neighbors that are probably also trying to sleep right now, this probably would have been a full-blown crash out. I’m I’m not kidding. But I’m at the same time, I’m losing energy with this with this group. I’m losing energy. It’s not It’s not good. It’s not good enough. They have tomorrow off to self-reflect, make a move. I don’t know. Yanmark’s gonna be in the lineup soon. Ah, Yanmark. Yay. Oh, love that. Brutal. Brutal. Unacceptable. Embarrassing. Sad. Pathetic. Losers. Losers. Got Leon Cidle and Conor McDavid in their prime and they’re playing like losers along with the rest of the lineup. It’s sad. Safe to say it is. Uh, it is sad. Chris Knobblock on the hot seat. If it if it were up to me, Chris Knobblock gone. Uninspired hockey. Don’t like the system that he plays. Has sucked all the life out of this group. Uh, and the goalending both. I I don’t care anymore. Trade them both. Don’t care. Put them both on waivers. Call up whoever. Literally do not care anymore. No questions tonight. Tell someone that you love them. And as always, fight like a kid. Fight like Ben. Let’s go Oilers. Actually, you know what? No, not let’s go Oilers. I’m not ending on No. Tell them that you love them and fight like a kid. Fight like Ben. And that’s where I’m going to end it.

This team is PATHETIC. Putrid. Embarrassing. Sad. Depressing. Miserable. #oilers #edmontonoilers #nhl

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32 comments

  2. The Oilers can survive one Bouchard playing like the opponent’s extra skater with no passion, no urgency and no defensive effort, but not an entire lineup. It looks like the malaise has spread through the whole room.

  4. There's no accountability for these losers, they'll just play them all again with the same bs next game. Skinner should be driven to the airport and given a 1 way ticket to wherever. He should never play another game for the Oilers. The team need to be gutted and rebuilt, no cup otherwise imo.

  7. This organisation deserves everything they get. Trade and giveaway key players who have helped them in the past to what???? Kids and hopefuls wtf. Spending cap in guy everyone knows are not worth it and the $$$$ for goalie/goalies that guys would be playing their heart out for! Nope we are happy with our goalies wth ….Look ppl have an expectation when a product hits the ice, well what about now eh. All those ppl who defend Skinner and Pickard what do you say now, give away guys and hope that's all it is hope.

  11. As an athlete, it’s deflating to look up and see after seven minutes you are down 3/Zip!! To see your goalie let in 3 goals on 8 shots!!
    Sports is all psychological!! It’s almost impossible to bring yourself back up when you don’t have any confidence in your goaltending!!! OILERS NEED A NEW NUMBER ONE!!
    Period!!!

  13. Yikes. 9-1. Undeniably, Colorado is stacked with the highest talent in the league and Oilers were taking the penalties. I didn't watch the game but that SHG by Parker Kelly must have blown the team tire. On a side note, Bruins are on fire.

  17. The Oilers better get on the phone with Nashville and offer up whatever it takes to get Saros. That's the best goalie you can realistically get. The team gave up on the goaltending believing that nothing they do will matter, and it shows.

  19. They had back to back golden opportunities to win the cup, blowing them both because management was too dumb and lazy to replace at least one of our goalies! Imagine if the Bulls never won any championships with Jordan and Pippen. That's essentially the equivalent of what could very well happen if this ridiculous franchise can't win a cup within the next 3 years. Today, the odds of that nightmarish reality feels alarmingly close.

  21. Time to start bringing up farm hands for a look. The D and depth are non-existent. Start looking for depth and grit. The oilers have nothing. At this point Calgary and Edmonton could combine teams and be competitive.

  22. Bob said it best after the game. This was a measuring-stick game for Edmonton. But it wasn't Edmonton measuring themselves up to the Avalanche. It was the Avalanche measuring themselves up to Edmonton. And the reality is, this season (and for the next 3 years), its going to be that way. This was the easiest game for Edmonton to give a shit about and they couldn't have cared less.

  23. Please shut the olde pie hole wih all the biatching about linemate changes, if you have ever played a sport in your life you know that line mates changing does not mean the Rules change,thats a really pussywillow excuse. This is an internal problem.

  27. Funnily enough, I’m a Boston #1, Edmonton #2 fan and it really blows to see a legendary team like Edmonton getting blown out and just rolling over. Defensive breakdowns have been the crux of the team and has cost this top-heavy team two cup chances. I hope Edmonton gets a deep run again and let’s have a bounce back.

  28. It’s kinda silly when you blame the backup goaltender for the goaltending problems and don’t mention the “starters” name specifically when he’s letting in 3-4 goals on 10-12 shots every other game over years. Can’t take this assessment seriously because it seems like the Alberta bias prevents many content creators from being serious observers.

    This is on Jackson and Bowman for using analytics as some excuse as to why having a top tier goalie is a bad investment. Reality tells us otherwise.

  30. Has anyone considered thought that a couple playes seriously need a change of scenery !
    Sorry 10 years with one team with limited sucess some individual accomplishments!
    But as a team there are restricted for any improvement getting younger because of their salary constraints !
    Sub par goaltender
    And terrible defensive system.
    Sorry Nurses contract is horrible .
    Sturat is like Jack Campbell who was slinged into the starting role because they didn't have another choice..
    The team like the Leafs have gotten older and have exactly gotten any younger or brought in charcater players !!!
    Oilers have some bad contracts that they can't get from under.
    There are too many similarities that stop gap temporary solutions have gotten them as far as it has gotten them .

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