On the Edmonton Oilers …
David Staples of the Edmonton Journal: Bob McKenzie on TSN 1050 on the Edmonton Oilers.
“Todd McLellan knows what the story has been all year long. He knows that he’s got a group that I guess I would use the word ‘damaged.’ It’s a damaged group. So many of them have been through so much losing, so many regime changes, so many coaches.
“But you have to be careful here too. Everyone says this is a clear sign you need to get rid of this guy and you need to get rid of that guy and the only guy who stays is Connor McDavid. And I agree with a lot of that. But you got to make sure you don’t get rid of the wrong guys because it’s dysfunctional (in the past in Edmonton).”
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“So you have to be careful. After Saturday night’s game, people were, ‘Get rid of Eberle! Get rid of Hall.’ Well maybe so. Maybe so you need to make some changes on those fronts but you’ve got make sure you don’t get rid of the wrong guy because the entire group is so severely damaged by all the losing that’s gone on and you’ve got to figure out who to keep and who to let go.”
McKenzie said that it might make some sense to trade Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle, but the Oilers might not get the return they would hope for.
“Is he a good NHL player, yes, sometimes he is,” McKenzie said of Eberle. “But is there consistency there? No. And so now is that on him? Or is that a function of being an Oiler at a time when being an Oiler suggest that a lot of these guys are, as I used the word, damaged.”
Chris Nichols: Pierre LeBrun on the Oilers: “Peter Chiarelli, I think, will be one of the more aggressive GMs in the entire off-season, and w/ good reason.”
Chris Nichols: LeBrun on the Oilers: “I would say, ‘Brace yourself,’ to a lot of players on that team right now.”