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G75: Senators @ Oilers - Oilers Culture

March 23, 2019, 11:57 AM ET [163 Comments]
Sean Maloughney
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Bob Nicholson had a major gaff Thursday morning during one of the season ticket holder meetings that have been going on all week. When asked by one ticket holder why the team should trust him, Bob went on an irrelevant rant; one of the things he brought up was Tobias Rieder and subseuently threw his own player completely under the bus.

It was a dumb thing to do and we witnessed the fallout from it, as both Rieder's agent as well as the player himself expressed their anger. Tobias Rieder even mentioned that it was discussed in the locker room and his teammates also felt that it was unacceptable.

Nicholson had the opportunity though yesterday to try and make amends, and provide some clarity to some of his comments and the plan moving forward. Jason Gregor of TSN1260 did an interview with Nicholson and if you haven't already listened to it I would highly recommend it. Gregor did an excellent job of pushing back against Nicholson and tried multiple times to get Bob to answer his questions.

In short, the interview had the opposite effect with Nicholson continually coming off as a man without a plan. He spoke about the importance of developing young players and drafting for skill like they were some novel concept that they had just discovered. His "answers" were vague, unclear, and seemed to reinforce the idea that Nicholson has no clue what he is doing.

Early on in the interview Gregor asked Nicholson about his comments that the new GM needs to fit into "Oilers Culture." At first he completely dodged the question, and then when Gregor pressured him to answer it a second time...I kid you not.... Nicholson's phone rang in the background with an automated voice saying it was from Daryl Katz.

The idea that the new GM needs to fit into Oilers culture is probably the worst idea I can think of. I still have no clue what Nicholson meant by Oilers culture, but the culture of this team over the last decade has been as followed:

- Rush players into the NHL to try and fix holes
- Trade from positions of weakness to try and fill holes
- When non Oilers people come aboard, whether they are GM's or coaches, fire them when things go wrong and use them as scapegoats
- Rinse and repeat

The Edmonton Oilers do not need a GM to come in and learn how to operate the way that Bob Nicholson and company want him to...they need a GM to come in to completely overhaul everything that has been wrought here. The comments yesterday from Nicholson truly make me believe that at the end of the day, Keith Gretzky will be the Oilers next GM.

The last few days have shown how unfit Nicholson is to be in charge of this team. If things continue like this, this team will be in damage control again in a few months.

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LINEUP

OILERS


Draisaitl – McDavid – Kassian
Lucic – Nuge – Chiasson
Gambardella – Brodziak – Currie
Rieder – Cave – Gagner

Klefbom – Larsson
Nurse – Russell
Sekera – Benning

Koskinen

SENATORS

Tkachuk – Pageau – Verronneau
Balcers – Tierney – Paajarvi
Smith – Lindberg – Ryan
Duclair – Gibbons – Boedker

Wolanin – Jaros
Brannstrom – Demelo
Harpur – Borowiecki

Andersson
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