Fail for Nail

Welp, the Oilers did it. They picked who everyone (but me) wanted them to pick and the Oilers fans are in a frenzy. I'm kind of getting tired of being a downer on these blogs, but its ever so frusterating watching the Oilers ignore the basic concepts of how to build a team. After listening to many hockey pundits saying they were taking Ryan Murray, feeling some sort of relief through the day, and then having the rug pulled out from under me by going back to the original plan and taking Nail Yakupov, was a severe body blow for myself. I haven't agreed with the things the Oilers have done in quite sometime here and but I continue to be in the minority of a lot of decisions being made lately. This pick seemed like a plea from the fans to take Yakupov. Then they took Yakupov. From here on out, whatever happens to the Oilers and its fans will strictly be on them. This team seems to be run on public opinion, which is a dangerous thing to do.

Lets review history shall we.
- The fans wanted Hall, they got Hall.
- The fans wanted Nugent-Hopkins, they got Nugent-Hopkins.
- The fans wanted Yakupov, they got Yakupov.
- The fans wanted Gilbert gone, he's gone.
- The fans wanted Penner gone, he's gone.
- The fans wanted Hemsky re-signed, he got 2 more years.
- The fans want Horcoff gone, well good luck with that.
- The fans wanted Quinn gone, Renney brought in, well that happened.
- The fans want Ralph Krueger.....

This is a dangerous precedent. Oilers fans are in no condition to be making such judgments. I know some of them pay the money to make the wheels turn, but when all the moves are disjointed, who is really pulling the strings here? I know the Oilers are in the product selling business, but this stinks of "no clear plan". Oilers's fans love goals, and thats understandable. Me? I'm more about the wins. The Oilers biggest weakness still lies in how to play without the puck and they just flat out don't own the puck enough. It's a concern that hasn't been addressed since 2006.

I dunno what happens from here on out. One thing is for certain, the Oilers are going to need 2 miracles on the backend and 1 down the middle.

The Oilers picked Nail Yakupov tonight (yippee!), but are no closer to leaving the basement of the Western Conference. Miracles need apply.

I'll do a rundown tomorrow night of all the Oilers picks tomorrow night and see how I matched up against them.