Still remember when Zadorov requested a trade good times good times

Or Nylander after his ELC

I don't disagree with your premise here and I personally think that all of the first round picks under Holland should have been traded. Side note, fun thought experiment is consider what the Oilers look like if they took the very next player at each pick. Anywho, it's important at least to consider the following:

When the Penguins won the 2008-09 Stanley Cup, they had 13 players they had drafted themselves on their roster within the previous 10 years (very generous window). 14 if you include Whitney until he was flipped for Kunitz. Of those 14, only 4 were top picks (Fleury, Crosby, Staal, Malkin). That's 10 players drafted in the second round or later making up major parts of the Penguins' depth and crucial positions. Of those names, and unless I'm horrendously mistaken, Jordan Staal would have been the youngest member. Those Penguins teams were not solely reliant on their youth and maintained excellent veteran support. Everyone on that team was in (at least) their third NHL season.

An equivalent benchmark to look at for the Edmonton Oilers would be when they floundered their 2018-19 season, a similar four year window. On that roster, there were 11 drafted Oilers (Brodziak and Gagner fall outside the 10-year buffer). The damage done by the Hall-for-Larsson and Eberle-for-Strome deals were already done and the top talent on the roster was reduced down to McDavid, Draisaitl, RNH, and Nurse (mileage may vary). All of Bouchard, Jones, Puljujarvi, Yamamoto only played partial roles in the season, meaning that the only Oilers draft picks doing anything of value were Klefbom and Khaira. Reider had a miserable season and the Oilers maintained a lack of depth that should never be compared to any of the cup-winning Penguins' roster.

Buying-in has only been one part of the problem, but the drafting and development of the Oilers has been nightmarish since finding Anderson, Lowe, and Messier all in the same draft. Even the back-to-back cup wins the Penguins saw in the mid-2010s was largely in part due to finding Matt Murray and turning him into a very good NHL goaltender for a short period of time. Not outright losing on trades, such as when the Penguins turned Jordan Staal, and eventually a 2016 3rd, into Dumolin and Bonino will really help keep your cup chances alive.

Find me three trades (not just pick swaps) the Oilers have objectively won since drafting McDavid. By my count the Ekholm and Kulak deals have been wins, but you have to go all the way back to February 2016 when Edmonton acquired Patrick Maroon from the Ducks to find the next one.

When you can't draft past the first round (and even then I'm skeptical of their ability to do that), and you virtually insist on losing every trade you make (they did break even on a few by my eye), you won't survive to win a Stanley Cup. The Oilers have done everything possible to get in their way and all we're left with in their wake is an Eric Andre "Who Killed Hannibal" meme.

And that confirms his position as a draft bust. He is his generation’s Daigle.

A couple of off the wall Pens fans are losing their minds over on Armchair GM. I’d pay them little attention as they aren’t the usual decent Pens fans on this site.

earlier this week there was a list of like 20 oilers acgms in a row. people are relentless.

Yeah that’s why I didn’t want to include the actual drafting in my post because you’ve been on it for a while (that’s why I put a sentence about the goalie coach/ scouting).

But it’s certainly a weird situation - that no one with a voice has been able to make any change or is just negligent like everyone else.

Most fans (I believe I was too but I can’t remember lol) knew Chiarelli into Holland was tomato tomatoe. And like you’ve addressed not only has the drafting been bad - the overall scouting for both pros and below have been questionable if we’re generous; abysmal if we’re being honest. Plus the goalie saga you’ve highlighted before. It’s just mind blowing the guy who’s spending hundreds of millions on the team hasn’t got one voice in his circle to right the ship or anyone else on the staff for that matter.

Broken record incoming - but I talked about this one another Oilers post. And this is a conversation worth having.

Rebuttal with me; it’s welcomed
I’ll tattoo this on me lmao.

Name a trade worse since 2021 that has had worse consequences then Holland trading for Xavier/ not selecting Wallstedt.

Holland essentially trading Wallstedt (if we dumb it down), is the single worst trade across the ENTIRE LEAGUE. It has had irreversible consequences on the Oilers organization and potentially has yet to fully develop into the teeming, retched monster it could become.

By not selecting Wallstedt -> the Oilers made 3 unforgivable sins, and it’s all on Holland + the Scouts who allowed it or forced it.

1) Not selecting the BPA
- For an organization with a poor drafting record; they made a boneheaded decision of not only trying to right their past wrongs. But continue to slam their heads into a wall. The BPA (Wallstedt had a franchise tag from many experts) and they passed for a forward they realistically never will need.

2) The biggest SIN, they did not fill a void, and instead created a black hole
- By not addressing their evident goalie issues, the Oilers CONTINUED, to be braindead, and did not select the best goalie (imo) we’ve seen in years (I like him more the Knight and Askarov). Not only does this mean they did not select to fill a gaping hole, but they also consequently made the hole bigger by knocking over a set of dominoes that led to signing Campbell.

If the Oilers selected Wallstedt - plain and simple; the Oilers not only would have a solution to their goaltending dilemma but also Wallstedt would also be ready by this TDL if not next year. (maybe they would have rushed and broken)

(To also clarify, I would certainly bet Wallstedt would hire or have his own pro coach like many elite pros. And to not allowing rushing or breaking but we’ll never know)

This also would have made signing Campbell unnecessary. Skinner and Smith hold it down, then Smith is replaced with a backup until Wallstedt is ready.

By not selecting Wallstedt, the Oilers essentially selected Campbell for 5m x long term.

3) Didn’t fire the entire management staff who passed on Wallstedt the moment they made the decision
- self explanatory, you let these baffoons keep running your team, while a team with Fleury and good goaltending said (WELL WHY THE F*** WOULD WE NOT WANT WALLSTEDT).
And now we’re seeing that same staff walk into 2023 with the same team as last year like they didn’t need fixes - thought they were the Tampa Bay Lightning “Let’s Run It Back!!!”. And well, the Oilers dirty flaws are all showing at once.

REAVES GOAL

Yup, ~525k to spare

Hey Luke, is Ryan Reaves scoring on your team not enough of an alarm bells for you to do anything?

oh look Blue Jackets up 2-1 against the Devils.

Gaudreau has an assist, 3rd point in last 4 games.

crazy what a bit of confidence can do for a team.

Not just in the Pens/Anderson trades. Happens every time someone (anyone) drops a hint of a trade idea and then there's a bunch of variations on it.
It's not something to get upset about.

Stanley Cup will be paraded down Dundas street shortly!!

Josh Anderson trades really get people going too.

Avs are going to be without Nathan MacKinnon (Foot injury from blocked shot vs Canucks) and Sam Girard (appears to be chronic headaches) for at least tonight but possibly longer.

Toronto to the shock of nobody, blows a 3-0 lead to the ****ing blackhawks

Big 4 really decided to take a nap against a lottery team again

Now granted Willy's breakaway was the one wow factor that im still surprised didnt go in

But still they just dont play like they want it when they go up against non playoff teams

Watching them blow that game and Edmonton keeping their foot on the Caps throat made me think that the Eye of Sauron is about to shift back to TML defense/netminders again.

People were really calling Byfield a bust at 20 YO…

I just flipped over to that game and there are 4 Kings in the penalty box and 3 Ducks and I've been watching for 5 minutes and still no idea what is going on and no actual hockey being played.

And now Adrian Kempe is playing Defense haha

toronto's been horrible at keeping leads and closing out games. only half their wins have come in regulation.

thinking they should give woll a good run of games to see if he's the real deal; samsonov hasn't be completely reliable this year.

To me it's a combo of big 4 not trying and defense still having holes

Lagesson-Timmins ew

Big 4 quiet

Like at least the bottom 6 was fun

But yea to me these guys need to be held accountable

A good benching would be fun

Big 4 not showing up + sloppy defense + leaving the goalie to dry = playing lottery team

Honestly wish Keefe had the balls to start benching but he just cant

He did it twice and one was only for 10mins

Actually it was a 3 - 1 lead