Neomaxizoomdweebie

Guns bad. Kill people.

Can confirm. But clenching and rodents in keisters. Remind of ur days in jail?

Edmontons metro population is around a million people. A lot more than I thought it was. So no, I wouldnt consider it a small market by that metric. But we have seen major league franchises in other sports succeed only in Toronto among Canadian cities. The NHL is different for now in that hockey is the biggest sport in Canada and only a niche sport in the US (unlike the NBA or MLB). If the popularity of the NHL ever comes close to that of baseball, football, or basketball in the US, the Canadian franchises will suffer and only Toronto and probably Montreal would remain in good standing. Speech is violence.

Holland has an easier task ahead of him than Yzerman. What if Holland ends up in Toronto? Did anyone anywhere ever think that wasnt a bad signing? I think Chiarelli is the only human to think that it was a good idea. Other than maybe Lucic.

Dude. Sarcasm. Yzermans first 2 moves are exactly what Holland would have done.

We dont need to find the next Lidstrom. Having a good, deep defense without a Karlsson or Letang or Doughty, etc soaking up lots of salary is exactly what I want to see.

It happened in QC and Winnipeg and Ottawa soon enough. What makes u think Edmonton is immune? Success will have little to do with it. Smaller markets cant compete in the long run. You only have so many people to buy tickets and merchandise.

I didnt say anything about operating income. I said they take in Canadian dollars and pay out American ones. They're on the wrong side of the exchange rate. That works against them.

They havent been relevant since 1990. One fluke cup final in '06 since. They were great in their earlier days after coming over from the WHA into the NHL, but they havent been a factor since. They're going on 30 years of irrelevancy. There's a lot to blame for that, but being a small market Canada based franchise is part of it. Ottawa, QC, Calgary, and Winnipeg have all had serious struggles over the years as well. It is what it is. Growing the NHL in the US will eventually ruin the smaller Canadian franchises. That's just the way it is.

It was starting to sound like a Brokeback kinda thing.

They're defense and Winnipegs is who i would like our D to resemble.

Barry Melrose? Signing undrafted free agents from Europe. Holland never did that.

What kind of relationship do u 2 have?

So yes then.

He can't if they also have NO Movement Clauses.

R u indulging in the Fake News again?

Doesn't matter. Oilers will never be relevant again anyway. Canadian franchise taking in Canadian dollars and paying salaries in US dollars. And a small market to boot. Canada or not, the deck is stacked against them. They'll end up in a US market eventually. Agreed. But the NHL has this "wonderful" thing called "parity" now. Yzerman won't be successful forever. This team will inevitably start to decline again. When it does, the wolves will come out.

As I have said before, Yzerman has the benefit of being a fan hero coming into the position that Holland did not. I think that does give him a "longer leash" among fans. That said, too many fans are fairweather and fickle and will turn on him at the first opportunity. We should archive these posts, cause some of these guys praising Stevie now will be the same ones who call for his head the first time he doesn't do what they want.

If Holland had stayed, he would have been involved even if it was only in an advisory role. If you had watched the press conference, even Yzerman talked about having Holland around as an asset to him. That doesnt sound to me like Yzerman didnt or wouldnt be keeping Holland involved.

If they knew he was leaving they wouldnt have bothered promoting him. You do that with people you are keeping around. Everything I heard from the press conference when Yzerman was introduced was that Holland was still going to be with the team in an advisory type role. I dont think Ilitch or Yzerman were expecting him to leave.

We're actually more likely to trade with TB than COL. Holland made trades with Yzerman and Nill after they left. Teams tend avoid trading impactful players within division unless its the best offer.

Yep. They keep u in the fold. Keep paying you good money. Did so expecting you to be a part of the team.....And then u bolt at the first opportunity. I have always defended Holland when warranted, but not this time. On the other hand, I guess this puts to bed the argument about whether Holland is a good GM are not. Guy got a new gig before he even left his old one. Guess the hockey world is more intelligent than some of the fan base.

Is this one of Jimmy D's aggressive outside of the box moves?

Doesnt mean he's not going to again be part of the organization in some other capacity in the future, just not as a player. I would be perfectly ok with that. If the Wings bring Feds back and Datsyuk, I think this could be a good opportunity to reestablish a strong presence in Russia. All of the teams scout there now, but there is still the hesitation about Russian players because of the KHL and its still not as easy to get Russian players as it is other Europeans. I think it would be smart to have strong representation over there and maybe help to get this team some talent that other teams can't.

So they arent better now? Conference final as a 7 seed. This team is playing far better now than it was before the playoffs. If before the playoffs it was because of Mrazek, than why are they playing so much better now? Mraxek? You cant have it both ways. And yes, a wildcard team in the conference is a fluke. They arent supposed to be there.