I got tickets to the Oilers game last night - not so hard to come by for some reason. It was painful to watch these stiffs in Oiler blue do a poor impression of an AHL team but it was hartening to look up and see the out of town scoreboard: 'Canes Win (because at this point it is all about the pick, baby) and Flames lose (because while Oiler fans might have hoped against hope that they were not this bad when the season began, Flame fans had really convinced themselves that they had improved on last year's team when, clearly, they have not).
Saturday will see these two doormats duel it out for the, once convented, Battle of Alberta Crown and I am reminded of one of my favorite Harry Neal quotes (referring to a mid-80's game between two Norris Division doormats the Leafs, of course, and the North Stars during a lackluster 2-2 game): "These teams are so bad, they can't even beat each other."
There will be a winner on Saturday and it should be the Flames. On paper they possess an NHL roster and even as I revel in their mediocrity I suspect that they will find a way into the playoffs but if not, there should be someone paying the price in Cowtown. In today's NHL going from bad to gawd-awful, like the Oilers have, at least comes with a shiny new lottery pick (fall for Hall! sin bin for Seguin!) but nothing good comes from finishing just out of the playoffs - I know, becasue that has been Edmonton's recipie for far too long.
7 comments:
I also saw somewhere that Edmonton is on the "Highway to Hall". Both Alberta teams pretty sad right now. It 'should' be a good game on Saturday!
Here's the thing, Edmonton's 10+game death spiral has them flirting with being worst in the league. Calgary's losing streak has put them in 9th, but only 8 points out of first place in the division.
Are they going through a dry spell? Yes.
Can they improve their way out of it? Probably.
Is Ray Whitney going to arrive and add some spark? I think so. Or something like a Carter for Phaneuf deal takes place.
But Edmonton is more than a single player away from turning things around. They could import an entire first line and a goaltender and still not be capable of beating off, let alone beating an NHL team.
Agreed, Edmonton needs an expulsion of deadwood and infusion of tallent to get where Calgary is.
Calgary just needs to revese the Jokinen/Cammaleri exchange (I know they weren't "exchanged" directly but the arrival of the one all but sealed the departure of the other) to go back to being the one and out Playoff sensations we have all grown to love.
Did you at least do your proposed sign for the game:
We want the
CUP (cross out)
PLAYOFFS (cross out)
PICK
It wasn't just a matter of getting Jokinen for Cammalleri... the freeing up of a bit of money also enabled the Flames to get Bouwmeester. And really, Jokinen 'should' be the better player, but just isn't showing it.
I like the sign idea Dan ;-)
Can't take credit - like i said in my post, it was Doug's inspiration, not mine
No, didn't have time to get the sign made up. Hope I'll get another chance.
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