Patience a must
I don't know how many times I've heard Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle's name being brought up, but at some point everyone must realize they alone won't be bringing a cup to the city. Before I start receiving death threats and hate mail let me first say; I make this comment because hockey is a team sport. You look at the bench and your about to see Hall and Eberle join a disgruntled Sheldon Souray in training camp. On top of that you have Andrew Cogliano and Sam Gagner without a contract. I think I've seen this in Ottawa with Dany Heatley.
Now let's say Oilers go all the way next year, what are the chances that Hall or Eberle will stay in Edmonton? We've asked Hemsky, Roloson, and Horcoff at different periods to carry our team. At what point do we start getting more then one player to show up -- cross our fingers?
But, I must say the Oilers have started to make changes. I feel in order to be succesful in the NHL you must have a good AHL team. Let me be the first to say, I am excited to see the OKC Barons play.
Unless the Oilers get their goaltending situation figured out, they won't be much for a team this year. The AHL may be a well improved team, but that has little to no bearing on the NHL team. They brought in a bunch of old life time AHLers to fill those spots, guys who have little chance of making an impact in the NHL. So, personally, I'm not that satisfied with the AHL as far as the future goes. Most of our best prospects will be in the NHL this upcoming season anyways, so this is a short term fix for the AHL club as far as I'm concerned.
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