Today the Flyers unveiled their new management structure, ripped from the Oiler playbook might I add, of hiring former players into key positions. Ron Hextall was named the new General Manager of the Philadelphia Flyers and while the trio of Holmgren, Snider, and Hextall played any suggestion of cronyism off as if the question wasnt at all worthy of their time, the new GM did manage to take pot-shots at the Oilers organization, albeit without mentioning any names.

On the topic of winning in the Cup in Philly and the culture of winning Hextall had this to say.

If you think winning the Stanley Cup is easy, I have news for you. And the one thing I mentioned earlier, Philadelphia's not sitting there waiting for, you know, number one picks year after year after year. You know, for five years. I mean it's, it's the easy way to go and there's no guarantees of winning a cup then. But to maintain something for 25 years or 30 years, which has been done here, is hard to do...

...Other than maybe not winning the big one, and again right now there's 30 teams out there and right now there's a team, won't mention any names, there's a team out there just collecting the number 1 picks right now. Yeah, they're gonna be a pretty good team in 3 or 4 years, but ask their fans if they've had a fun last 7 or 8 years. I mean, it's just, the culture of winning is nothing to be embarrassed about.

You dont need Rusty Cohle and Marty Hart to solve the mystery of which team Hextall is talking about there. Hmmm team accused of losing on purpose, collecting high picks, 7-8 years of misery. It's pretty obvious Hextall is picking on the Penguins of 2006...er...I mean the Oilers of today.

Listen, my only defense for the Oilers is that they never meant to be this terrible for this long. What Edmonton is doing right now is that weird strut that you do when you trip over your own feet in front of that girl you like from your Psych 101 class. You know that thing where you pretend like you MEANT to do it. The Oilers didnt try to pick 3rd Overall this year. They honestly thought that they could compete for the playoffs but they were just so awful that they finished dead last in the West.

Other than maybe the reasons for losing for so long, Hextall has it right. It is difficult to win and the Oilers are an example of the fact that there are no guarantees no matter which method you try to build your team. The Oil went down a route that they knew would be painful. They knew it would make them a punchline in the NHL. They knew there were no guarantees but it was a gamble they felt like they needed to make.

If that's the easy way out then the Oilers were forced to do it because at the time they didnt have anyone capable of getting the job done any other way. I wish Hextall all the luck in the world proving he's able to build a winner without taking the easy way out.

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