2013: The NHL season that almost wasn't

The Oilers fire Tambellini today. Thank God. Man had no balls when it came to making a trade, any trade. Lack of doing anything at the deadline I think finally did him in. The puzzling part are the replacements. MacTavish -- a guy who Tambellini fired as head coach four years ago to the day and has no experience as a GM or assistant GM and has been in the role as VP of hockey ops for less than a year -- and Scott Howson as the new VP of hockey ops -- yes that Scott Howson who managed to run the Blue Jackets even further into the ground than before, I mean, that took talent. I know he had a similar role with the Oilers before, just not sure on his exact title from before.

Sweet fuck, could they get anymore incestuous?

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=420813

And I know JC will mock me here, but how the hell does Lowe still find himself employed? And holy crap was he teste during the press conference. Thought he may drop the gloves with a reporter at one point, also ran down the fans at one point. Ugh.

I will say, MacT has always come off as a cerebral person, just the optics of all of this are not good at all. They know there are ideas about the game and the way a team should be run that exist outside the Oilers organization, right? And for a team that has been horseshit for almost a decade now, it might pay to look at some of those.

 

I agree with you on Lowe, he apparently can do no wrong in Edmonton. He is still running the show there and the Oilers are wasting valuable entry level years from there young stars.

 

It's almost to the point where it was with Sather where it appeared he was unfireable despite something like eight straight years without a .500 or better record. At least Slats had five cup rings as a GM under his belt, Lowe has six as a player, none as a GM or in any other position. If they don't make it next year, I don't see how he keeps his job. And, yes, JC it does pain me to say that about Lowe. Still one of my favourites players of all time, but shit you gotta win in this business and in his position, hire competent people.

 

This makes me laugh. FWIW the Slurpees are not any better in Winnipeg, just more of them get consumed because the Summers are so stinking hot.

The one thing that cracked me up in that clip was the brief shot of "Dancin Gabe". He is a special needs guy who "dances" at various sporting events. There were people in the city who were convinced that TSN would always show Dancing Gabe to mock Winnipeg on the rare occassion that Jets hi-lites were shown during the original Jet days.

He never paid for any tix but would show up at tons of events, remeber seeing him at a basketball game during the Pan Am Games.

 

Wasn't all that impressed.

Just from the eye test, I can't make the argument that they're better than Detroit, St. Louis or even Columbus.

 

The Stars don't do well against teams that form a conga line to the net like the Hawks do. They've traded away most of their enforcer-types the last couple of years, like Ott and Fistric.

 

Using the Blackhawks as your measuring stick is an awfully tough standard. They are pretty freaking awesome.

 

True. So I asky myself "Which team is best equipped to give Chicago a run in a best-of-seven series?" Either Detroit or St. Louis.

Heck, if my team (Minnesota) winds up eighth, they might as well go through the autograph line after Game 4. I think Chicago enters the playoffs as big of a favorite as anyone since the 2002 Wings.

 

Looks like the NHL is moving ahead with multiple outdoor games next season. Including two at Yankee Stadium.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/hockey/islanders/islanders-to-play-rangers-at-yankee-stadium-next-season-1.5085997

 

You better delete that post right now. JR is going to have a massive coronary when he sees that.

 

He's still recovering from the Caps' beatdown of the Leafs tonight.

 

St. Louis could conceivably give them problems. The Blackhawks don't always deal well with size. I mean, they'd still be favorites, but that's probably the one they want to avoid.