It is no secret that a good chunk of the Edmonton Oilers fan base was not overly pleased with the organization’s decision to part with a first and second round pick at last summer’s Entry Draft in order to acquire defenceman Griffin Reinhart from the New York Islanders. To make matters worse, Peter Chiarelli decided to try to sell the former Edmonton Oil Kings captain as an NHL ready prospect after pulling the trigger on the deal and not surprisingly, it has led to the 22-year old becoming a whipping boy of sorts in this neck of the woods.
Regardless of how Saturday’s tilt with the Nashville Predators turns out, the Edmonton Oilers will head into the NHL All-Star break in the basement of the Western Conference standings. While it may not be where the players inside that dressing room were hoping to find themselves 50 games into their season …that is the reality of the situation.
Despite winning back-to-back games for the first time in two weeks, theEdmonton Oilers essentially had their playoff hopes dashed against the Florida Panthers on Monday night. As satisfying as yesterday’s 4-2 victory may have been for the players and coaching staff inside the Oilers room, it was an ill-timed blocked shot from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins that ultimately stole the spotlight and not in a good way.
It has been roughly nine months since the Edmonton Oilers decided to hand the title of general manager to Peter Chiarelli. While the expectation was for the 51-year old to come in and help clean up an organization that had been spinning its wheels for the better part of a decade, everyone knew there wasn’t going to be a quick fix. In inheriting the roster he did, this was always going to be about the 2016-17 season and beyond and not the here and now.
Heading into the 2015-16 season, the Edmonton Oilers were hoping they had solved their problem in goal with the acquisition of Cam Talbot. The 28-year old was coming off an awfully impressive campaign with the New York Rangers but had a grand total 57 NHL appearances to his name prior to this season. On paper, it appeared to be a match made in heaven that would allow both sides to test drive one another for a year before deciding what direction to ultimately go.
