I adore hockey. In my opinion it is the best sport in the world. Though I may cover the Oilers I am a fan of the sport as a whole and there are quirks and unique attributes that every team has which makes it easy to understand why fans root for them.
Having said that...
Every team also has a number of issues, annoyances, and other anger inducing problems which make them easy to not cheer for. Today we are going to have some fun and go through a list of things I dislike from every NHL team.
Anaheim Ducks: Ryan Kesler. The Ducks in general have gotten away with playing cheap dirty hockey and no player on that roster exemplifies that more than Kesler. The only solace I take is that the team is on the hook for his bloated salary for the next 4 years.
Arizona Coyotes: The "will they, won't they" of their team. I don't care if they have a franchise but can we not hear every summer about how they might move to a new arena or that the owners might be selling the team. Enough already.
Boston Bruins: Bruins Hockey; ie running around and hitting everything that moves … I despise Bruins hockey for a couple reasons. The first is it's an outdate style which the Oilers management thought was a good idea to emulate. The second is that the Bruins themselves aren't even playing Bruins hockey anymore but it's what everyone still calls it.
Buffalo Sabres: Their inferiority complex. Seriously the Sabres are smack dab in the middle of the Toronto and New York teams and have tried ever so hard to keep up with the big boys but keep falling short. Try and tank to get McDavid? End up with Eichel. Draft Reinhart? Miss on Draisaitl. Ryan O'Reilly spoke after being traded from the Sabres that he now is excited to play hockey again. That's how poor things are in Buffalo. Also don't get me started on that outdoor game.
Calgary Flames: Speaking of inferiority complexes, Calgary needs to get over Edmonton. Seriously the amount of people in Calgary who feel the need to compare everything they do to Edmonton. Here in Alberta's Capital... we don't really care about you guys or even notice you are there most of the time. And as far as playoffs go remember... we won more games in one year than you guys did in the past decade.
Carolina Hurricanes: The fact that they aren't the Whalers anymore. Seriously the Whalers were awesome. Don't believe me? Look at these jerseys. How can you hate a team that has a whale tail on their jersey?
Chicago Blackhawks: Their “Dynasty." 3 cups in 6 years is not a dynasty. At least the Penguins were able to win back to back Cups. Bunch of frauds.
Colorado Avalanche: Truth be told I don't hate much about the Avalanche. Watching them have a historically bad season two years ago was fun but MacKinnon single-handedly pulled them out of the ashes last season. I'm going to hate the Avalanche for not doing more to get MacKinnon the Hart.
Colombus Blue Jackets: The Blue Jackets are pretty terrible at keeping their best forwards. Rick Nash back when he was good was a star but left when management couldn't put a team around him. Now it looks like the same is happening with Panarin. The trade for Panarin was a brilliant one for the Blue Jackets... if Panarin walks after this season and resigns with the Blackhawks.... oh boy....
Dallas Stars: How is this team not a playoff team every year? They have Seguin and Benn who are elite players, Radulov who is a solid top 6 forward and an elite offensive defenseman in Klinberg. Then they've got... right... that's why. The Stars have some real solid pieces but their inability to put any form of depth around those guys year after year is infuriating.
Detroit Red Wings: Their drafting…. Oh the amazing drafting and developing of the Red Wings. The team was really good back in the day…. Like incredible. And because of that none of their prospects were able to play until they were 24. Now? I count maybe 4 or 5 players in the past eight years that are solid drafted players. Let the past die guys.
Edmonton Oilers: Speaking of not letting the past die...next on our list is the Old Boys Club. Years of hiring ex players, promoting those who should have been fired, and simply put trying to relive the old days has left this organization in turmoil. Sure all of this failure has given the team McDavid but so far Katz and company have managed to bungle even that. This is an organization that believes itself to be smarter than everyone but in reality they are eating checkers while the teams around them are playing chess.
Florida Panthers: For being the 10th most popular sport in the state of Florida. I put the Lacrosse team, the Florida Launch ahead of them too. The Panthers have a pretty darn good team but you wouldn't know that walking around anywhere in Florida.
LA Kings: I hate the Kings for trying to get all the senior discounts that they can. Look at the contracts for some of their players. They have Kopitar signed until he is 36, Kovalchuk at 38, Brown at 37, Carter at 37, and Phanuef until he is 36. It isn't fair icing a team that the opposition is afraid to hit for fear of breaking them.
Minnesota Wild: I meant to post this blog yesterday but I spent the past 24 hours racking my head trying to come up with something to say about the Wild. Truth be told I've got nothing. There is no interesting way to say anything about the Minnesota Wild. From the way that they play, having any semblance of personality, everything about the Wild is boring and that in and of itself is something to dislike.
Write in the comments below things that each of you dislike about other teams in the NHL. This is all in good fun so let's make sure to keep the comments civil.
Thanks for reading.
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • 
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