I’ve been a bad blogger. I’m going to try to post a little more often. Today a quickie: Tom Renney is fired and speaks to the media. Part of me is fine with firing Renney as I didn’t love everything he did with the team. This includes playing certain players a bit too much (Belanger on the powerplay, Khabibulin in the net too much in the first half and scratching Omark almost every game near the end of the season). However, on the other hand, he did seem to get quite a bit out of the kids. Hall and Eberle developed nicely this year with Eberle flirting in the top ten of scoring for a chunk of the year. He brought Nugent-Hopkins along slowly even though the media and fans were screaming for more ice team, he took his time. He limited his defensive zone starts and ice time until he was ready to handle more later in the season. He relied on Horcoff and Smyth for the tough minutes and played them against the best opposition since the kids were not ready.
One thing I despise about the whole process was it took Tambellini over a month to drop the hammer. Everyone knew he was getting the boot but Tambellini wanted Renney to relax, draw up a plan and come back later to discuss it. Renney was very classy in his presser and took the high road. The Oilers need to improve their reputation.
Next up, NHL draft in a month where the Oilers have the first overall pick again. Please let this be the last time. All the experts are saying Nail Yakupov is the man to take so therefore the Oilers should take him. Trading down to take a defenseman would be a stupid move. Defensemen take forever to develop and the Oilers should be able to find decent options via trade or free agency (hopefully Tambellini/Lowe sign better ones this off-season).
I’m thinking about doing a podcast with a friend this fall….will let you know if it goes ahead. I’m thinking it would be fun to discuss the Oilers….we do it all the time anyway so might as well tape it!
Go Oilers
