The Edmonton Oilers: I'm just not that into you (or am I?) (ARCHIVED POST)

THIS IS AN ARCHIVED POST FROM AUGUST 31st, 2019, FROM MY PERSONAL SITE

Preface: We're starting this ol' thing up again, with an attempt to actually be consistent with it throughout the 2019/20 NHL season. We'll see how it goes, but I'm ready to make a better effort this go around.

Oh boy. Here we go again.

We're about to hit September on the calendar, and that means a couple of things. First off, I'm less than thirty days away from being of legal drinking age in the United States, something that would be great if I actually, you know, drank alcohol ever. Who knows, I might start depending on the second factor, which is the start of the NHL preseason for the Edmonton Oilers.

Oh, you Oilers, you, striking up hope and wonder in me every year around this time.

I've been attending Oilers home games for 14 seasons with 2019/20 being my 15th; to me, that's absolutely crazy to think about. In that time, they've played nearly 600 home games, and I was there for roughly 85% of them, maybe more. I own countless jerseys, not all of which were the most prudent of player choices (I own a Jeff Deslauriers jersey for god sake) and I've enjoyed my time as an Oilers fan. Still though, the last few seasons have really tested me.

I know what you're thinking, "real fans don't bail on their team", bla bla bla, but you must understand one thing: I've spent hundreds of hours of my childhood through to my adolescence and now adulthood watching an organization run itself into the ground and become one of the worst-managed franchises in professional sports. It's, for the most part, all I've ever known as a fan of this team.

Now, my time spent in the seats at Rexall/Rogers Place was not without its spectacles. Obviously the 2006 run was a dream, and honestly a bit of a spoiling for a kid who only started going to games that season. The bar was immediately set far too high and it has only lowered ever since. But what about some other moments? Sam Gagner's eight point outing in February of 2012 against the Chicago Blackhawks is all-time moment in Oilers history, and Cornell Big Red product Ben Scrivens had the best game a netminder has ever had in the regular season less than two years later, stopping 59 shots from the San Jose Sharks en route to earning the most saves in a regular-season shutout in NHL history. The goalies always got me.

Then, on June 27th, 2015, something amazing happened. The Edmonton Oilers acquired Cam Talbot from the New York Rangers in exchange for draft picks so insignificant I won't even list them here. My Oilers fandom was never the same.

I was always a goalie apologist, sure, but that would backfire on me. I was all for Scrivens, but that didn't pan out after that auspicious start (fun little note: I learned the word inauspicious and the ensuing antonym from Scrivens himself, as he used it to describe his warmup before that fateful game against San Jose). Cam, however, was different. After a not-so-great start to his Oilers tenure, he settled in nicely towards the end of the 2015/16 season, and I was fully on board. I still remember the Winnipeg Jets fan sitting a row behind who heckled me for having a Talbot jersey at the Heritage Classic, only for him to shut out said Jets team later that day.

The rest is history of course. Talbot would go on to set the Oilers franchise regular-season wins record en route to the team's first playoff appearance since 2006, finishing fourth in Vezina voting (WHICH IS OUTRAGEOUS THAT HE WASN'T A NOMINEE I'M LOOKING AT YOU CAREY PRI-). The Oilers would become the powerhouse of the NHL for years to come, maintaining dynasty status. Talbot would be heralded as one of the best netminders year in and year out.

Only, not so much.

After appearing in the playoffs for the first time in over a decade, the team faltered yet again over the next two seasons,  and Talbot would be traded at the 2019 deadline to the Philadelphia Flyers. So, we're back at square one.

Still though, this is a team that employs Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl; the most difficult pieces to acquire are already there, and the former is someone you should never count out. With other players like Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (#KeepNugeForever) and Oscar Klefbom, they just need actual wingers, which is why I loved the Milan Lucic for James Neal trade; you pretty much can't lose with that bet. I'll wait and see on the tandem in net, but even as a goalie guy, Mikko Koskinen and Mike Smith aren't doing it for me as of this moment. Still, I've made it known that I'll get a Smith jersey if he gets a shutout in his first start. We all know Braden Holtby is signing here next summer anyway (come on Braden you grew up in Saskatchewan, follow your Oilers dreams).

Look at me, I'm doing it again.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm ready to be hurt again. Bring it on. If not, maybe I'll become a closet Leafs fan s/.