HardCoreBlue

Cutler is a coach killer. Even when he plays well he just gives off negative vibes all the time. All the tools to be a great one. But that's his problem, he has all the tools but he's also one himself. Always either pissed off or indifferent. Not a leader by any stretch of the word. How can you win with a player like that? He'll get the next HC in Chicago fired as well. Yup. His history does not lie. If Trestman's mentoring, coaching, tutoring had no effect on Cutler, I say good luck Chicago. Cutler is hands down one of the worst team 'leaders' of all time.

Fair enough. I think though it's more of a combination of things that play a part in our bigger 'problems'. Every area needs to go through a continous improvement process for this organization. i think we need to cast the net quite wide in areas we feel need some refinement, some tweaking, some overhauls from executive, from management, from coaching to the team talent we field this coming season.

Outside of contractual obligations and whether you were a Noel fan or not, any concerns with his attitude, his approach that could disrupt the chemistry of this team? Or was it simply the case of being completely shafted by his former coach? I'd want enough information at my disposal to get some level of assurance he's willing and able to buy in to a team approach before bringing him in.

someone else who doesn't watch the team play comments I see. You know what the #1 problem with the oilers is right now? No goal scoring. They can't score enough to win games. If they happen to give up a goal on a mistake which happens to every team in the league they can't get it back. Yakupov has made big strides defensively, trouble is he can't score. I am telling you Eakins crushed the offense of that team and the confidence as well. People agree that Renney and Kreuger didn't get a chance before failing and were fired simply due to impatience, but no one is saying Eakins didn't get a fair chance. He made the team worse and that's all on him. People would have been happy if the team had kept progressing. No one is under any kind of delusions about the roster, but Eakins did so many things wrong it is a true wonder he lasted as long as he did. One could speculate that the reason for this was he was Mac T's hire and he kept hoping it would turnaround for his sake as a GM in his second go-around with the Oilers. According to Mac T, even after letting him go, believes Eakins is an excellent coach but something had to be done. Firing the goalie coach didn't have any immediate impact. Dallas Eakins also feels mutual admiration for Mac T by suggesting if any one can turn this team around, it will be him. Yikes. By Eakins saying he/they did their best with the players they had available supports the post that suggested he sounded like Tim Burke approach in assessing how he did as a head coach. Apparently it's just time and patience needed.

I've always said fight fire with fire when it comes to these types of people/groups. When it's obvious it's not a legit call, play along acting the part of a buffoon with great 'interest' in their 'offer'. Things like not understanding their instructions having them repeat them over and over again, providing them with fictitious numbers one number short in what their asking (e.g., visa, account numbers), putting them on hold while you go 'get' what they ask for talking in the background so they can hear you, the list goes on and on. I'm guessing comedygeek has a few he could share. Keep them on the line as long as you can to waste their human resources so they can't hook someone else who may fall to their scheme. The more of us who take this approach would help shut some of these outfits down and you can have some fun while you do it. Win Win :-).

I read Todd Nelson being named interim head coach with Mac T coaching next few games for the transition period.

I always find it strange to hear that the Jets have a younger lineup then EDM. Wonder if one of the big 3 is up next. Eberle is mentioned the most. Being surrounded by Oiler fans for years now, I'm not sensing many loyal Oiler fans feel bad for Dallas Eakins. The never ending talk about the Oilers woes over the last 8 years revolve around whose to blame, coaching?, management?, owner?, current players?, scouting?, fans?, media?, cheerleaders? Obviously all have to take some blame for this teams's lack of success but the debate continues on which area is in the most immediate dire straits to start to turn this team around. As a non-Oiler fan, I say focus on the cheerleaders.

A player citing his stats from practice? Just when I heard it all.

This I like. Having a playmaker in our system is a nice piece to the puzzle.

My guess, my hunch is it was done out of obligation versus nice gesture.

In a coaching role, hasn't he just been with the Riders and Eskies? I think a change of scenery would do him/us good, i.e., Bombers.

Wasn't really expecting this. And let the games begin. I wonder what Oiler fans are thinking . . .

And that's how valuable he is. Remember the hype for this guy when he first came over from Europe? Again, again and again, injuries suffered by the Jets confirms the reason why you don't trade Buff. He's a special player that few teams have. I for one do not want to give that to another team.

Management also has to factor in chemistry when making changes which isn't seen in a stat line.

What often gets left out of this thought process - maybe they just have better things to do with their time than appease the fans with a pointless press conference. I'd rather they be working, myself. Impatience debatable, entitlement no. If one says, impatient or not "I'd like to know, I need to know, We should know now" does not mean they think they are entitled. If however one starts to say things like "Management owes me an explanation' that's another story.

Appreciating sarcasm myself, I think you've overused it. I also think the word entitlement gets misused on this site at times. This is not how I interpreted the original post, rightly or wrongly as I'm not able to be inside BigBlue's head. For some of us who have committed our lifelong loyalty to this club, feeling we are in the know, as appropriate, on the health and direction of this club is a reasonable expectation not a sense of entitlement. Where I diverge from BigBlue's original post is I believe there has been vast improvement of an inclusive approach with fans from our previous regime of Mack. You rarely ever saw Mack engage.

Maybe, maybe not. Regardless, imho, we trade Buff, we 'take from Peter, give to Paul' as the saying goes. Not to mention the fact (which you made somewhat) that most other teams are usually smart and will feel hard pressed to give up anything substantial WE NEED. Being 29/30 in this league is not really the same as it was 10/15 years ago. If he is taking care of himself (which is probably a whole other discussion), another 5-7 years of productivity is not out of the question. I say re-sign, he's too much of a special player not too. I think he likes it here, just a feeling. Doesn't seem to like the limelight all that much which he can usually get here compared to other cities.

Yes for sure. I do see improvement. Ive always looked at the Jets through rose-coloured glasses. But this win one lose one has to stop. Regardless of the division. This is the division they play in. They wanted to be in the West from day one. That is the team they should have built. I think they play better defensively. I think they are a better puck posession team. But all that simply equals another season with the same record. Its not that they havent improved, its that they are still within the same general level of success. And thats not good enough. Yes Dustin Byfuglien is good for on average one or so mistakes a game but he brings such a dominance to the game that is hard to replace. Not too many players in the NHL can do what he does, e.g. defense, forward, PP, PK. He'd probably play Goalie if he had to and do it well. He helps give us an identity that other teams would kill for, e.g., the Oilers. If it was up to me, no way do we trade him. If anything, we build around him to help him even play more to his strengths.

I didn't want to derail any recent NHL thread, so this is the first post I could find about the Maple Leafs. First, it probably would be a good idea to get the Maple Leafs right before any talk about expansion. Second, I'm going to draw a comparison between the current leafs with of all people Mike Kelly. I read in the press that the Leafs didn't do the ceremonial stick raise to their fans in last nights win against Tampa Bay. Dion Phaneuff (one of the most over rated defenseman BTW) said it was no disrespect to the fans, they just wanted to change things up. Change things up?They can even screw this up. This smacks of a Mike Kelly approach where you insulate yourself, behave in the way that suggests the only thing that matters to you is your immediate team forgetting the fact that they represent and have responsibility to much more than just their team. One of Mike Kelly's significant mistakes was suggesting to fans he didn't care about them and only his team (I won't even talk about the Media, with what Kessel recently did). If this Maple Leaf team thinks this strategy of 'changing things up' includes negating their responsibility to the fan base and the media, I'm sorry to report (not really sorry) that this will not help them win.

As long as BC are willing to bring in talented players, I heard Tim Burke would like another shot at HC. Sorry couldn't resist.

Hoping he works out with us as he just re-signed how about '100% Cotton'? It's also my wife's maiden name so I'm partial to it. :-)

To appease to the people/groups that count (e.g., helping to ensure the GC is well hyped), they pretty much have too, even if it's more optics than substance when it comes to 'splashes'.

I liked what Maurice said about the schedulers with not playing a NHL game in their life, classic.

Chip Cox sure would look nice in Blue and Gold though I'm assuming he either a) re-signs or retires. As much as I dislike Montreal, I've always enjoyed watching him play. If not talking the Bombers, probably my current favorite defensive player.

As I've said about Kane before, he considers himself as his own enterprise similar to how LeBron James conducts himself. I believe everything he does both on and off the ice is purposely meant to build and promote his 'business'. For example, if being a good team player helps his business, that's what he'll do and how he will market himself. He's a lot smarter than some people give him credit for. The problem with that approach is LeBron James is arguably the biggest star in the NBA. Kane is a barely average NHL player. My guess is a lot of NHL experts would disagree with you.