Farewell Rexall Place

Here are my thoughts on the day and attending the final Oilers home game at the Edmonton/Northlands Coliseum/Skyreach Centre/Rexall Place.

Churchill Square Rally

1. I popped out from work at lunch to hit Churchill Square and see over 100 Oilers alumni gather on the steps.  There were thousands of people there.  We're crazy stupid fans still hanging on to old 1980's and 2006 dreams.
2. God love Ryan Smyth but the guy can't talk in public with a darn.  That said, the love for him is 2nd to Gretzky, maybe 1st.
3. Later at the Westin, I bumped into and said hello to Gretzky's old linemate, B.J. MacDonald. I said, "Blair MacDonald?" He said, "Yes."  I said, "Welcome back to Edmonton."  He said, "Thanks!" 
4. Saw Grant Fuhr, Mike Krushelnysky, George Laraque, Willy Lindstrom, Craig Simpson, and Brett Callighen.  Fun!
5. Lots of collectables fans parked in front of the hotel.  Lots.  Fuhr singed everything.

Pre-Game

1. Traffic getting to the barn around 4:30 wasn't too bad.  I won't miss that now being able to just walk two blocks from the office downtown.
2. I've never seen so many fans in Oilers gear before.  I wore my #94 Ryan Smyth away jersey and I stood out because there were like maybe 3% of fans in white jerseys.
3. Singing O Canada with the late great Paul Lorieau one last time was a treat and so very 2006.
4. Connor McDavid won the Molson Cup despite missing half the season.

1st Period

1. The Oilers didn't take a shot on net until the 10 minute mark and they were on a power play.  
2. It was an excruciatingly boring period.  Almost like watching the Coyotes and Wild play.  
3. The Oilers were terrible.  T e r r i b l e !
4. The fans were getting bored, and were very quiet.  It was eerie.  It shouldn't have been that way.

2nd Period

1. McLellan likely inspired them in the 2nd intermission because they came out flying at that point.   Yak's sniper, penalty, and giveaway will be the last time you see that happen on that ice or in an Oilers uniform.
2. Coliseum beer is cold.  I hate Coors Lite and Molson Canadian is one of the worst lagers ever.  Please let there be some variety at Rogers Place!  I mean, I had a full big cup of Guinness at Yankee Stadium.
3. None of us are going to miss the stupid onscreen Esso car race game and 3 puck flippy thing. None. Of. Us.
4. My buddy left just before for the kiss cam.   I get no love.
5. We had great seats at the top row of the blues on the isle in front of the skyboxes.  I had never been up there before.  And I never will again!

3rd Period

1. The 3rd period was fun to watch. Four goals.  Glad Hall, McDavid, and Draisaitl potted one.  Patrick Maroon is turning out to be the best trade transaction at the deadline in the whole league.  I am very interested to see what Chiarelli can pull off other teams.  Hello Shattenkirk!
2. Talbot played very well and was very square to the puck.
3. The Vancouver Canucks are an awful hockey team now.  Why the Sedins don't want to bolt out of there is beyond me.  They remind me of the 2009 Oilers, a few years after they went to the Cup final.  T e r r i b l e.
4. When Mark the announcer guy (I'll miss THAT voice big time) said, "Last minute of play at Rexall Place" the whole crowd got up and cheered and cheered.  It was so 2006.

Farewell Celebration

1. There were so many players' names that came out on the ice I did not recognize and I'm freaking old.
2. There were lots of notable alumni players who weren't there.  Glen Sather and Craig MacTavish being the most notable.
3. Many of us were holding our opinions when Kevin Lowe was talking at the podium. He's a terrible public speaker.  T e r r i b l e.
4. Sportsnet guy John Shannon didn't hold the microphone close enough to the Oiler speaking and none of us could here.  Wake up, John! 
5. Who doesn't love Joey Moss?  If you don't, you are a terrible human being.  T e r r i b l e.
6. Conversely, why is there so much love for George Laraque?  I'll never understand.
7. What Mark Messier said that everyone on the team is important and if everyone on the team  doesn't give it there all every game they have a 0 percent chance of winning, was so directed at the current team, let's hope it rings in Connor's ear.  I know it will.
8. Why didn't Gretzky get to speak more?
9. The last three Oilers to leave the ice were:  3.  Ryan Smyth, 2. Connor McDavid, 1. Wayne Gretzky.

After all that, I went up to several senior coliseum staff members, shook their hand and thanked them for their service to the fans.  

Lots of memories.  But too many losses in the past 9 years for anyone to take.  Let's hope the Curse of Rexall Place is gone.

Farewell.

The Curse of Rexall Place

While I will miss the memories of Oilers and Oil Kings games and the many concerts, this crazy fan won't miss the old barn we know as .

Not.

One.

Bit.

Admit it, the building is just a big round hunk of concrete.  It's the memories in that space that we are celebrating.  Every team in the league except one (hello Calgary!) has moved into a new building.

The LRT station doesn't connect directly to the building.  Cheap parking sucks.  The seats are small. The concourse is narrow.  The washrooms are old.  The concessions were dull.  The downstairs bars, while having fantastic staff, didn't exactly offer a wide variety of draft or cocktails.

And worst of all, during concerts, the sound echoed too much.  It wasn't designed for concerts, as much as they put in those hangy sound blockers from the room.

Let's not forget that Northlands Coliseum had a sister building in Vancouver.  Yeah, they left that place a loooong time ago.  Didn't anyone really care?  No.  Why?  Because Canucks fans don't care about their hockey in general anyway, and no Cups were raised on home ice there, so I bet most Canucks fans don't even know about that building.

So that's what we're really celebrating here, isn't it?  The Cups.

Once again, after the 30 year reunion last year and this season's Glen Sather tribute, we old time fans have certainly been inundated with these old memories.

Since those 5 Cups, the only real big memory was the 2006 Stanley Cup game 6 win against the Carolina Hurricanes to send them to the final and deciding game.  The building has never been as loud and proud since then. The Paul Lorieau anthems. The sound. The smell. The energy.

Since that 2006 Cup run, we saw great players with heart and soul sent out the door by Kevin Lowe and Co. Pronger, Smytty, Smith, Souray, Roloson, the list goes on and on and on.  The 2006 team was magic, lunch pail underdogs, that won over fans from around the world.  That's why we loved them with all of our heart.  Then the heart was ripped out and bad karma took over.

And it never left.

10 years.

Hey, don't get me wrong, it's great to reminisce and all, but I want something new to celebrate so we can all prove to the rest of the league and the hockey world, that we fans who have hung in there no matter what, will eventually get rewarded with our deep loving faith.  At least we hope.

But what memories have their really been since then, since that amazing time where Oilerism became a new religion?

I've had a few.  Every single game I took my dad, girlfriend/fiancee, or best friend to go see the Oilers I vividly remember.  I remember the great wins.

But I mostly remember losing and sadness.  There was streak of about 8 games I went to a few seasons ago where they didn't win a single one of them.  I thought it was me.  Now we know it's not even the coaches.

Even with the big tank and rebuild, no matter how many #1 draft picks they won (4 in the past 6 years if you're counting), no matter how many players have come and gone (thousands?), no matter how many coaches (5, if you're counting) or assistant coaches (no one's counting that but it's a lot), no matter how many general managers (3 if you're counting), no Edmonton Oilers lineup can ever shake the curse of Rexall.

Ever.

So it pleases me that there's a new building with a whole new energy that will be created by old fans, by new fans, and by new players.

Our children will be able to plant their face against the glass and feel the hockey energy that is Connor McDavid like I used to do when I was 10 years old in the front row.  They friggin' deserve that--not old memories they have absolutely no connection with.

The curse MUST be lifted.  A new era MUST be born.  This is OUR Oilers.  OUR city.

We want our HEARTS back.

So, Goodbye Northlands Coliesum/Skyreach Centre/Rexall Place.

And good riddance.

Yak smak or Nail in the coffin?

 #Oilers #OilersNation

The word got out through Russian media that the 2012 #1 draft pick, Nail Yakupov, wants a trade out of Edmonton.  It's no surprise as he whined about it a couple years ago that he wants to play.  What NHL player wouldn't want to play?

Oilers forward nail yakupov
Image courtesy of STEVEN ALKOK/ICON SPORTSWIRE

I'm not going to look at his goals per season under different coaches.  Let's look at how well he plays with and without players.

Go over to http://hockeyviz.com/playerHtml/yakupna93.html and look at his WOWY and Spider graphs over the past four seasons.

One thing I noticed was in looking at the Overviews each season and the common trend in the 2nd and 3rd graphs that the more ice time he got, the better he eventually got defensively.

If his ice time was down, he tried to do more offensively and thus took more risks, was out of position, and more shots and goals against. 

This attitude landed him with the worst plus-minus in the league one season.

The other thing I noticed was in the WOWY (with or without you stat) that Yakupov he plays well with highly-skilled players, but is unable to lift players up that are less-skilled than he is.

Essentially, he doesn't make the players around him better, but he will compliment a skilled player quite well. 

Players' coaches Ralph Krueger and Todd Nelson knew this and played him on the second line accordingly with guys like Gagner, Perron, Hemsky, and even Derek Roy, and Yak played to his potential because of it, and fans loved him for it.  Who can forget that winning goal against the Kings and his Super Celly!

As much as Dallas Eakins was a supposed defense-first coach, because Yak wasn't touted as a two-way player, he got less ice time and fell out of favour, even being benched a couple times.  This is when the Russian winger got annoyed and announced it publicly.   Well that certainly won't put you in favour.

Enter McDavid.  I thought Eberle was going to be paired with McDavid.
But then Eberle got injured before the season started.
Then Yakupov's dream came true and he gets paired with McDavid.
Then everyone was seeing that this was going to be the pair that carried the team forward.
Then McDavid got injured.
Then Yak got a freak injury from a linesman
Then Hall and Draisaitl became the new top pair.
Then Eberle came back.
Then McDavid came back got paired with Eberle and Yak got bumped to the 3rd line.
Then some magic happened.
Then McDavid's and Eberle's linemate Pouliot got injured.
Then Yak sometimes saw ice time with that pair.  But not much happened.
Then Yak got bumped from the power play entirely.

It was like watching your ex make out with your competition.

What is clear is that McDavid made a SIGNIFICANT impact on Yakupov's play.  So much so that Yakupov started playing a better two-way game even without McDavid.  It was like he was learning on the fly from McDavid's example or something.  Pouliot was a little better without Yakupov, though.

That said, my point isn't really that Yakupov got better, it's that even a young McDavid can take a bad player and make him better.

And I think now, Yakupov is seeing that the Oilers forward lines will have a grinder, a two-way centreman, and a skilled winger, and as long as Eberle is in the lineup, Yakupov will play second-fiddle right winger on the third line.

But here's where I think Yak made a huge mistake.  Massive rumours are flying around that Eberle will be traded for a top-d man in the off-season.  What a prime opportunity for Yak to slot in to McDavid's right side at a much cheaper price.

The worst part of all this is how the Oilers squandered a #1 draft pick and will either get in return at best a 2nd round draft pick, or a bottom six winger.

That said, as much as Yak wants a trade, it's not up to him.  Like Jonathan Drouin in Tampa Bay, Oilers management will hopefully pull the trigger when the deal is right.

Even then, Yak boasted that 8 teams were interested, including Carolina and New Jersey, but "something went wrong".

My guess on that, and many others have guessed already, is that the deals weren't right and Chiarelli laughed at the return offers.

Teams that have a good two-way 2nd line centreman looking for a right half-wall powerplay sniper, should look to Yakupov.

So if Eberle gets traded, I think Chiarelli says to Yak, "Ok, Nail, you're going to slot back in with McDavid."

Otherwise, look for Yakupov to be traded in a package deal for a mid-right defensemen with a quality defensive prospect like Oesterle, or for a bottom six forward or centreman along with a Letestu, Korpikoski or Hendricks.

What's the answer for the Oilers?

 Pundits, journalists, bloggers, and people on the street have all wondered what is it with the Oilers and being unable to crawl out of the basement of the NHL and after 10 years of missing the playoffs.

Management?  Lowe, Tambellini, MacTavish, and now Chiarelli.
Coaching?  MacTavish, Quinn, Renney, Krueger, Eakins, and now McLellan.
Assistant Coaches?  blah blah blah
Systems?  Swarm!
Players?  Forwards?  Goalies?  Defense?   Joey Moss?  Heck no, it ain't Joey Moss.

It's scouting.  It has to be.  It is.

Jordan Oesterle fends off former Oiler now Duck, Andrew Cogliano
Image courtesy of the Edmonton Oilers

When you look at all the great players of today that the Oilers had a chance to draft but missed them-- thinking their guy was better, you HAVE to make the conclusion that bad scouting and drafting has been the bane of the Oilers organization.

Doan, Perry, Getzlaf, the list goes on.

And look no further than the defense.  The Oilers have consistently had one of the worst defenses in the league.  Lowe and Tambellini really didn't do anything here at all.  And when they even trade for a guy like Sheldon Souray, he is treated with such disdain that Souray gets sour (hi, Gene!).

On the defense as it is now, there are some very decent up and coming players, but it is still very inexperienced.  At least there was some not bad scouting done to draft guys like Klefbom, Nurse (easy one), Davidson, and Oesterle.

Can you imagine how bad the Oilers would be (yes, it could be worse) if they didn't pick up Sekera?

And the coaches aren't the only ones teaching young guys how to play.  The veterans are too.  And when they don't have enough vets to do so, there's a gap.  You need that live on-ice communication and coaching.  "Nurse, go there and take that guy ... I got the backside."

Most of us have maintained that the Oilers are two defensemen away from a properly balanced team.  And that would mean right-handed guys.

Even if they picked up Travis Hamonic from the Islanders for let's say Eberle and Oesterle, there's still another 40 minutes of ice time that needs to go to another guy.  If not, are you happy with?

Sekera - Fayne

Klefbom - Gryba

Davidson - Clendening

Nurse

Sekera isn't even really a top pairing guy, but he sure is trying damn hard to play like one.  Nurse still has a lot of positioning work and needs to score more.

One thing is certain to me.  One or two of the left-side defensemen have to be traded in a package deal with a top winger or bottom centre for a top right-side defensemen.  And that can be any one of Klefbom, Nurse, Davidson, Reinhart, or Oesterle.

Or trade the top draft pick for the defensemen you need now.  But I'm not willing to bet that Arizona takes home boy Auston Matthews for Oliver Eckman-Larsson.

Either way, a top pair right-shot defensemen needs to happen more than anything else.

And that's the answer.

Patrick "Big Rig" Maroon and my run-in with Kevin Lowe

 #Oilers  You've all seen the goal the last time the Oilers played the Blue Jackets. You know, the one where he dekes through 3 players to then deke another 47 times around the goalie before putting it in?  Yeah, that one.  We'll be seeing that one every year every month for the rest of our lives.

Let's not forget that Taylor Hall's goal last night was one of the great plays of the year.  How far can that guy get his stick out?  Unbelievable reach, speed, and focus. Well, except for that moment right after when he crashed into the boards at 100mph, giving us the suspenseful willies a la McDavid the last time they played the dirty ugly Philadelphia Flyers.  But Hall took a moment, our eyes stayed unblinking thinking "Oh no. Not again!" and he smiled, and fist pumped his team mates.

Oilers Patrick Maroon handles two Flyers. Photo courtesy of the Edmonton Journal

That 6'3" 230lbs beast of a guy Patrick "Big Rig" Maroon made a huge impact on the last game, especially when he played a "Larry, Mo, and Curly" on a couple Flyers players.  Wakka wakka!  And it was a joy to watch him score a dirty in front of the net goal.  The Oilers desperately needed a guy like that since Ryan Smyth was in his prime.  But wow, can Maroon dance with the puck too.  Almost got a wrap around there!  And now he's on a line with Hall and Draisaitl.  Look out!

Everyone is looking at his number #19 and having those split-second woozie moments thinking it's Schultz.  But alas, no!  This guy is much bigger and stronger.  And um, better puck handler than the old #19?  Am I right, fellas?

While listening to the Neilson and Fraser show on TSN1260 radio this morning, they said just that.  Where the old #19 would make you cringe when he touched the puck, where now, "it's kinda orgasmic".  Well, I wouldn't go that far, but it did give me a chuckle.

So here's a story that happened last night you will hopefully enjoy...

I was watching the game at Lux downtown sitting at the side bar tables. While my eyes were glued to the TV, I was noticing how huge and effective Maroon was playing. So I said to my friends at the table out loud over the music playing, "Wow, Chiarelli has been an AMAZING GM!" ... and right when I said that... get this...

none other than Kevin Lowe walked by, heard me and looked at me.

I feel that our years of frustration were lifted off our shoulders in one swift perfectly timed comment.

Let's remember, the Oilers this season with 15 games left have now tied the amount of points they had at the end of last season.  If they played like they did against the Isles and Flyers, the best they can do is probably 22nd place.

And that should get the league's attention that the Oilers are back!

If not, I'm sure Patrick Maroon will remind them.

And McDavid.  Can't forget about him.

McDavid vs. Eichel? Stop it.

. #Oilers Yes, we saw McMagic again last night.  But shouldn't the score have been more of a blowout for the Oilers?

Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel on 2015 draft day.
Image courtesy of Yahoo Sports.

Yes, Lander didn't get off the ice in a millisecond so that Sekera's challenged goal was called back for offside.  But maybe the game wouldn't have gone to overtime to see McDavid's winning goal.  Ah yes, those Hockey Gods.  They work in mysterious ways, don't they?

That said, the Oilers had lots of chances throughout the contest.  Robin Lehner, that crazy Viking of a Swede was excellent in goal for the Sabres, but still, why weren't there more goals?  The Sabres are not a good team, yet.  Neither are the Oilers, but when you take off the Oilers-focused blinders, you watch Buffalo on the ice and just think "Yikes, they look inexperienced and disorganized."  Well, like the Oilers, the Sabres are a very young inexperienced team.

So if the Oilers think riding the coat tails of Hakuna McDavid, who is the lion's share of scoring now (pun totally intended), is going to get them far, as players, they need to rethink that.

What I liked about last night's coaching was in O/T, coach McLellan kept McDavid out on the ice when Sabres coach Dan Bylsma called a timeout.  Well, now McDavid is rested.  And it worked.

And what we like about GM Peter Chiarelli is he realizes coat tails aren't enough.  He knows the Oilers are going to need more goals in the slot and Smytty-style garbage goals in front.  Which is why he's emphaSIZING size in players.  

Although the Yak-McDavid-Eberle line had a wonderful full minute of 5v5 offensive zone time, unless you have a guy or two in front creating havoc and screening, no amount of fancy cross-ice and drop passes outside the slot are going to accomplish much against even average goaltending.

Which is why you'll likely see when Nuge comes back, three scoring lines with a pair of high skill guys and a size guy with some skill.  Enter Maroon, who in Anaheim, played on a line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.

Hall-Draisaitl-Kassian

skill + skill/size + size/skill

Maroon-McDavid-Eberle

size/skill + skill + skill

Hendricks-Nuge-Yakupov

size/skill + skill + skill

Korpikoski-Lander-Cracknell

skill + skill + size

Gazdic-Letestu-Pakarinen

size + skill + size

Although that's one player too many to fit on the roster, the recent pickups create necessary competition for positions--something the Oilers haven't seen in a long time.  Contracts going into next season include Korpikoski, Lander, Gazdic, and Letestu--all below average players.

McDavid vs. Eichel?

Now, on to the McDavid vs. Eichel rivalry.  Stop it.  There isn't one.  There never was one.  No one ever said Eichel was better than McDavid.  And if they did, they're an idiot.  Jack Eichel is already a good pro hockey player and he showed it last night, offensively and defensively.  In case you didn't see him totally prevent Taylor Hall from scoring in front of the net, then you need to watch games more closely.  In O/T he almost beat Andrej Sekera on the right side.  He had other good chances too. I feel for the kid.  He's sick and tired of it.  He just wants to play on a team and win. And I'm pretty sure Connor McDavid doesn't give a shit about it either.  I mean, they're about to play on the same World Cup team together.  They'll only play against each other twice a year.  They're in completely different conferences and the odds of them meeting in the Stanley Cup final are astronomical.  This isn't Ovi vs. Syd.  That had some rivalry there being in the same division, but hockey players don't compete against each other individually.  It's a team game.  So stop it and move on.

Compete-level and Justin Schultz

 #Oilers #OilersNation

A buzzword coaches and managers use a lot is "compete-level".  What in the h-e-(double hockey stick) does it mean, really?

Image courtesy Edmonton Sun

If an athlete has a "high compete-level" it means he or she is not being lazy and is truly trying their best with increasing their effort in speed and perhaps is going above their normal average level.

As an athlete, you have to internally psyche yourself up and truly get focused at what you're about to do.  To maintain that raised energy vibration takes a lot of practice, actually.  Players use rituals, eat specific foods, wear certain clothes before the game, listen to music, warm-up with a soccer ball, stretch, jump up and down, use power hand gestures, among many other methods.

Ultimately though, it's mental.  It's having confidence.  It's having trust in your team mates that they too will raise their compete level so the "team chemistry"

To compete in hockey that means in getting to the opposing player as fast as you can, checking them, being relentless with your stick in trying to get the puck back.  Even if you don't get the puck back, at least you tried your best.  And in some cases, maybe you're just not big or smart enough to do so from your opponent at that time.  It may mean it works better on another opponent.  Even if no one expects you to win each "puck battle", but over a pile of them, you should be wining more battles than you lose, including unlucky bounces and deflections.

If you're not competing though or enough, it becomes easier for the other player to beat you, even if his skill level is lower than yours.

What does this have to do with the Oilers?  Well, everything.

Former Oilers that weren't really skilled but succeed because of their heart, effort and compete level include a lot of guys from the 2006 team like Jason Smith, Ryan Smyth, Shaun Horcoff, and Dwayne Roloson.  And back then, the game was full of grabbing and holding, so you had to take your compete-level to a whole new.. uh.. level.

Now it's guys like Hendricks, Kassian, Pakarinen, and God love him, Brandon Davidson.

That said, there really is no statistic for "compete-level" and we simply have to use our eye and judgement.  You could perhaps base it on a usual effort scale (0=none, 1=very low, 2=low, 3=average/good, 4=very good, 5=excellent).  I wonder if the coaching staff rates this and reports to the coach or if the coach just takes mental notes.

I will say this.  Last game against the Senators showed that the line of Yakupov, Letestu, and Pakarinen had a high compete-level in the 2nd period.  Did they score?  No.  But they sure kept the Senators in their own end and prevented them from scoring, or trying to compete against the Oilers' defense.  What "lit the fire" for them?  Was it GM Chiarelli's direct press remarks earlier in the day?

Everyone is ragging on Justin Schultz because of his seemingly lack-lustre compete-level.  I wonder if it's more than that though.  There's no way a professional athlete of that potential calibre can sag his compete-level down so far that opponents just find holes and walk all around him.

Is it because he's playing on a defensive pair with Sekera that is facing top competition when he shouldn't be and that makes him lose confidence?  Maybe.  But, shouldn't he be facing competition like that at 25 and nearly 300 games under his belt by now?

Is it because he hasn't fully recovered from his injury?  Many players returning this year didn't seem to get back into the game to a compete-level they used to have.  Nuge, Eberle, Davidson, Pouliot, Yakupov, and others but at some point, usually five or so games in, you turn it around, recover, get your muscle memory back and lift your confidence.

What is clear is that Schultz is being shopped before the trade deadline.  Coach McLellan certainly strongly and smugly hinted as such in his answer to the press post-game.  "What do you think?"  He's on the first pair, he's the point man on the 1st powerplay unit, he can do it all!

But the problem is, he's neither.  

But what he really has become is barely a 3rd pairing puck-moving defensemen and maybe on a 2nd powerplay unit.

Maybe the Canadiens will take him with their former Oiler right-shot defensemen Jeff Petry out for the season with a hernia. And maybe that's why Schultz will fit right in with the way the Habs have been playing lately.

Because what Schultz certainly has not become is a player with a high compete-level.