The team then came out with a better effort against the St. Louis Blues and although they failed to show up for the first period, being outshot 19-4, they played a solid last 40 minutes and lost 1-0 with the Blues scoring with under 6 minutes to go.

They followed up that decent performance with another debacle last night against the Calgary Flames. The game was a joke and it was the 9th straight victory for the Flames over the Oilers in the Battle of Alberta. The Battle of Alberta has been hardly a battle the last several years and has become a game where those Flame’s players who are having scoring problems break out of slumps.

The Oilers, for the most part, seem to be playing good for a game and then bad for 1 or 2 before the compete level shows up again for a game. So where does the team go from here for the remainder of the season?

This team started the season with the goal of playing meaningful games in March and April and here we are, a week before the All-Star break, and chance of playing meaningful games in March and April have all but evaporated. Unless of course meaningful meant fighting to stay out of 30th place but seeing how they played last night, they appear to have a good shot at a 3rd straight last place finish.

We know that a rebuild takes some time…in fact the Pittsburgh Penguins had the first or second pick for 4 straight years in order to build their championship team. Chicago Blackhawks also had some top picks for many years to build their championship team. But I don’t ever remember those teams lacking the compete level that many on this Oiler team has shown.

It is now assumed that the Oilers will become sellers over the next month before the trade deadline. Selling deadwood for value is going to be tough to do.

An even bigger question is who is going to be doing the selling? Is Steve Tambellini going to be the man in charge of any deals? Tambellini is out of a contract at the end of the season and you would think that if he was going to return as the GM of the team, he would have received a contract extension by now. If he isn’t going to return, then why would you let him be in charge of doing deals for a future he won’t be involved in? The team ownership and high level executives (Darryl Katz and Kevin Lowe) need to make a decision by the end of the All-Star break. If Tambellini is sticking around, then give him a contract extension and let him go to work swinging some deals to get rid of deadwood and get some draft picks in return. If he isn’t going to be around, then you better fire him now and get a GM in place who can start putting his stamp on the team with trade deadline deals.

The coaching staff is also out of contracts at the end of the season but not renewing their status is expected until the GM position is solidified. The GM is the man who hires and fires the coaches and each GM has their own favourite coaches and style of coaches and if Steve Tambellini doesn’t have his contract renewed you don’t want to saddle a new GM with old coaches who may not fit his philosophy.

The Oilers need to decide NOW the direction they are going with the GM and get on with the job of continuing the rebuild. Get rid of the deadwood and heartless players who are taking up positions on the bench and either bring up some kids who want to play and learn the game or bring in players with real heart. Ryan Smyth is a good example of this and while age is catching up to his play, his heart is always in the game. As a youngster, Taylor Hall also shows the kind of heart and desire needed to be successful. We need more of that passion and less of the Hemsky style of passion (or lack thereof).

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Last night the 28th place Oilers were humiliated at home by the 29th place Anaheim Ducks. They were embarrassed, shamed and disgraced in front of their paying fans. Other than Taylor Hall and Sam Gagner, the team were just bodies on the ice. The so called leaders of this team are so used to losing that they are fine with getting spanked every night.

Like many true fans, I was resigned to the team losing more than their fair share for 3-4 years while the team built a winning team, but like most, I will not be satisfied with losing the way they did last night. This team showed no heart or desire to win. NO GUTS!! Even after Sam Gagner went toe to toe with Francois Beauchemin, bloodying his face and knuckles in the process, the team didn’t show up to support his effort. Gagner’s fight is one more than Ben Eager has this season. Ben Eager was signed by this team to give the team grit and toughness yet other than taking stupid penalties and scoring the odd goal, he has done nothing to help this team. Like Eager, Darcy Hordichuk was also signed to add the grit and toughness but he too has been a huge failure. When your best player (Taylor Hall) gets run and the only guy who has the balls to stick up for his team mate is Sam Gagner, you know this team doesn’t care.

The problem is they don’t care on more than one level. They don’t seem to care about winning or losing and more importantly they don’t seem to care about each other. When team mates see a player like Hall being lined up for an annihilating hit and Gagner is the only one to defend him, your team doesn’t care. Beauchemin should have been made to pay for his attempt more than once. The whole team should have played harder and hit him harder for the rest of the game. Instead they treated it as if was a tiddlywinks match.

This team needs a quick infusion of heart, desire and caring or they will be finishing 30th for a 3rd straight year. Veterans like Horcoff, Smyth, Hemsky, Sutton and Belanger need to start playing like veterans…like leaders. How are the young players supposed to feel good about themselves or their team when the players they look up to don’t bother to show up?

I am willing to give this team until the end of this year to start showing improvement and start caring for themselves as players and for the team. While I don’t expect them to win more than they lose yet, I will not accept a team who has given up and just shows up. Losing because you aren’t good enough is expected at this point of the rebuild, losing because you don’t try is not. This team better turn it around before the end of the season or heads better roll. The fans will not put up with a team that doesn’t care. And the head rolling had better start at the top with the Lowe, Tambellini and the entire coaching staff replaced by a group who can get this team to care and win.

Should we expect them to just go through the motions? Should we accept them to just show up each and every game and just play dead while they are beat into oblivion? Here are my thoughts on what needs to be done to make this abysmal season something that can be looked at as a success in the long term scheme of things.

The Oilers have been dealt a gift either through fate, misfortune or even mismanagement but it is something they need to use. The gift? 32 games of under fire, in the heat of the action, mean nothing for now exhibition games. 32 games to see what players they have for the future.

The first thing they need to do is to put the younger players to the fore of this team. Whether it is by trading some of the older veterans or sitting them in the press box. And if they can’t trade some of the guys because of their contracts then send them to the minors. Who cares if someone claims them and you get nothing. This franchise has to start over anyway. Saving the money is worth it right now. The captains “C” and the assistants “A” needs to be taken from those who have them now and be given to the young guys who are going to lead this team in the future. Let them start leading now. Carolina did the same thing by taking the “C” from Rod Brind’Amour and giving it to Eric Staal. He is the future of their franchise.

The younger guys on this team need to be put in the situation of taking this team on as their own. Did anyone else notice that when the young guys like Cogliano, Gagner and Gilbert were put in that situation 2 years ago they went on that great run. The funny thing is that they did this without all those veterans being around. They were all injured and out anyway. Of course we don’t want them to do something stupid like win 25 of the last 32 games and miss the playoffs by a few points and again screw up their shot of a first or second draft pick. But, we need to know what this team has.

The team needs to know if Sam Gagner is going to be the leader many thinks he is. They need to know if Andrew Cogliano is a bonafide top 6 forward or does he need to be groomed as a shut down guy. Is Penner the guy they forked out all that money for and started the season like a gangbuster or is he a lazy bust like he has been the last month? What role does Patrick O’Sullivan fit into? Find his role and let him play it rather than playing with different line mates in different roles every second game. They need to know if Gilbert can run the power play and if Smid can be their shut down defender. Is Gilbert Brule going to be an offensive threat? Is Ryan Potulny a second, third or 4th line center? Is Marc Pouliot going to be the player they thought they drafted or is he another one of those dead, go nowhere draft picks the Oilers are famous for drafting?

32 games is a great opportunity to see what this team has in its youth. Management needs to make the hard decisions now. Steve Tambellini and Kevin Lowe have to stop being friends with the veterans and bite the bullet. They need to start thinking of building a team like Chicago, Pittsburgh, Washington and Detroit. They all did it with draft picks and filled in the gaps around. Stop trying to chase after stars and wasting your time with players that won’t come to Edmonton in their current situation. Build a team and there is a good chance that stars will want to come.

Another thing that has to happen is that once the excess baggage and contracts have been purged, Daryl Katz needs to put a lock on the cheque book. No more out priced contracts for third line or role players. Every team is full of them so you don’t need to pay for them. No more Mr. Nice Guy. One good season doesn’t a fat contract make.

RIght now a win for the Oilers is a good effort in a game that means something in the long term scheme of things. A lazy effort or a meaningless game is not going to do this team any good. The learning experience starts Tuesday against the Chicago Blackhawks, a team they need to strive to become and learn from.

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