Each week, we check in with our readers on social media and e-mail to see what\u2019s on top of their mind, explore the hot topics of conversation and answer hard-hitting questions about the Edmonton Oilers. Here are some of the talking points from the past week:<\/p>\n
Cassidy is a little old to be playing goalie in the National (Hockey League).<\/p>\n
\u2014 Jan from Jersey (@VicVega27400589 on x.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n This one wins. We lol\u2019d.<\/p>\n In response to Frank Seravalli\u2019s post rumouring the Oilers were withheld permission by the Vegas Golden Knights in regards to interviewing former head coach Bruce Cassidy as a possible replacement for Kris Knoblauch, this one cuts straight to the point when it comes to what the biggest issue is facing Edmonton right now.<\/p>\n Nicely done.<\/p>\n If the Oilers, Connor and Leon haven\u2019t won the Cup after after all these years, why would they wish to keep trying? I know Leon is under a longer contract. Not blaming anyone. Daryl is making money.<\/p>\n \u2014 Richard Campbell<\/p>\n Oh, and just when there is so much blame to do around, too. Oh, well. Too bad. You might not be dishing out the blame, but that doesn\u2019t mean owner Daryl Katz isn\u2019t looking to. He didn\u2019t become a billionaire by making bad investments and turning a blind eye, after all. And he definitely isn\u2019t making near the money off his hockey club this season than in years past.<\/p>\n The NHL average net profit per playoff game hosted is $2.5-5 million US. And Edmonton could very well be above the median. Just look at the No. 97 and No. 29 Oilers sweaters being worn by fans passing through Ford Hall and you can imagine the merchandise made off of the two superstars over their past 11 years playing here together.<\/p>\n Now ask yourself the very question you posed, what if they no longer decide Edmonton is the right place for their so-far elusive Stanley Cup quest? Contract terms aren\u2019t the same as guarantees. Not when you\u2019re talking about top talent. Either of them could demand a trade tomorrow and they would get it.<\/p>\n Money talks, of course. And having Katz bankroll the team they play for doesn\u2019t hurt. But it only means so much to a couple of the NHL\u2019s brightest stars who will stop at nothing when it comes to the potential of cementing their legacy with a championship.<\/p>\n YOU SAID IT<\/p>\n For this week\u2019s edition of Dear Gerry, we dip back into the letters from the past season and pick one fan who had a crystal ball from a Jan. 31 submission:<\/p>\n \u201cThe first review of the Oilers in the Edmonton Journal after yesterday\u2019s game said they are \u2018still a good team.\u2019 Yes, indeed, a good team, but not a very good team, and certainly not an excellent team. They are a middle-of-the-road team that looks good against teams below them and pretty awful at times against teams above them. Teams that are quick on their skates and even quicker in their decision-making overwhelm and toy with the Oilers. Devils, Penguins, Avalanche, Canadiens, Lightning, and on. Maybe I\u2019ll be pleasantly surprised, but I doubt it. Oilers out in the first road, five games, six tops.<\/p>\n \u201cBut this is only the tip of what is going to happen. This team has peaked. It was better two years ago than last year and marginally better last year than this. Being stuck in the middle means it won\u2019t get the players to go up and won\u2019t get the players to rebuild. It\u2019s the fate of a lot of teams, tweeners as they age out. The big bust will come in about two years. McDavid, Nurse, Ekholm, will leave or be traded. Maybe Bouchard. Lots of draft picks all around. Drai and N-H may stay a few more years, the latter might even retire as an Oiler.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Trevor Harrison<\/p>\n You were right on the money, sir, with the first half of your prediction. And you may also be correct with the second part too, if this team has, indeed, peaked and the Stanley Cup window is, in fact, shut on the McDavid-Draisaitl Era of the Edmonton Oilers.<\/p>\n And what a shame that would be, having been to back-to-back Cup Finals and getting as close as it gets to almost winning it all. What else would you call ending up on the wrong side of the deciding goal in Game 7?<\/p>\n That was two years ago. They were in no danger of winning in the Cup Final last year. And this time around, they didn\u2019t even make it past the first round, as your prediction stated, topping out in six games.<\/p>\n Were there others who predicted a first-round knockout in five or six games? Most definitely. The writing was on the wall over a less-than-enthused regular season that this team wasn\u2019t one that was simply going to flip the switch once it started to matter.<\/p>\n But did anyone else submit their claim in writing to our Oilers Mailbag a full three months ahead of time? No. And that\u2019s why your submission ended up in this space.<\/p>\n Now, as for Part 2 of your prediction, it\u2019s hard to argue this team is on the downward trend if for the simple fact the management duo of Jeff Jackson and Stan Bowman appear to be a match made anywhere but in heaven for Oilers fans.<\/p>\n There has been both good and bad in their roster moves and acquisitions, but the results show the bad outweighs the good. And will continue to be a dead weight dragging down this roster well into the future with long-term contracts to ineffective forward Trent Frederic and a less-than-impressive Jake Walman. And that\u2019s before even bringing up how much the Oilers overpaid in a downgrade in starting goalies that ended up seeing their own farm product ascend to the starting role midway through the season.<\/p>\n And this all happened at the same time the greatest gift this franchise has received in this millennium, former first-overall draft pick Connor McDavid, put the franchise on notice with a two-year extension he waited until the midnight hour to sign heading into the regular-season of his contract year.<\/p>\n And those two members of the top brass want to try and use head coach Kris Knoblauch as a shield to deflect all the blame away from themselves right now? Puh-leeeease.<\/p>\n The funny part is, they think the fans can\u2019t see right through them.<\/p>\n For a chance to appear in an upcoming edition, send your questions, concerns and comments on all things Edmonton Oilers related to:<\/p>\n E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n On Twitter: @StarkRavinMod<\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don\u2019t miss the news you need to know \u2014 add EdmontonJournal.com<\/a> and EdmontonSun.com<\/a> to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post, and 13 other Canadian news sites. The Edmonton Journal<\/a> | The Edmonton Sun<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Each week, we check in with our readers on social media and e-mail to see what\u2019s on top…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":45236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1929,18349,461,20122,52,263,949,1378,20123,946,1796,17453,462],"class_list":["post-45235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-bruce-cassidy","tag-connor-mcdavid","tag-daryl-katz","tag-edmonton","tag-edmonton-oilers","tag-jake-walman","tag-kris-knoblauch","tag-sean-m-haffey","tag-trent-frederic","tag-vegas-golden-knights","tag-western-conference","tag-zach-hyman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}