Edmonton Oilers and the 50 Shades of Extreme

If you’re an Edmonton Oilers fan, you probably feel and know well the swings that come with being an Edmonton Oilers fan. Either the “sky is falling” or the “team is on its way to finally contend for the Stanley Cup” but, not often, is there an in-between.

These days, that feeling is even more present as the team is making “knee-jerk” trades, has lost six-of-seven games, suffering due to injuries and there are questions about management and whether or not the general manager can be trusted to right the ship.

In an effort to have a little fun with the many things people say about this Oilers team on any given day, here are a few items/observations (50 in fact) that have surrounded the team. Someone has either made similar comments, hinted at the below statements or insinuated these are reasons why the team is so good or so bad.

** Disclaimer: these 50 points in no way reflect my stance on the subjects presented. These points are not based on my opinion, but things I’ve heard or read in the past few days, weeks and months.

11 Shades of Extreme: Connor McDavid

Here are 11 crazy comments made specifically regarding the Oilers best player and arguably the biggest star in the NHL, Connor McDavid. Some are good, some are bad, but almost all take a pretty significant stance on one side of the fence or the other.

1. The Oilers are wasting Connor McDavid’s talent.
2. There’s no way McDavid will stay with the ineptitude surrounding this team. The organization is such a mess, someone as good as McDavid will bolt the second he gets a chance.
3. He’s way too strong a professional to let the Brandon Manning trade affect him. In fact, Manning and McDavid might become best friends.
4. Auston Matthews is better than McDavid and McDavid makes too much money (this one often comes from Toronto fans trying to rile up Oilers fans).
5. Playing with McDavid will make anyone better, just put anyone up there on his line and watch them score 20 goals.
6. He’s going to want out of Edmonton now that the Oilers have traded his good friend in Drake Caggiula.
7. If the Oilers still struggle, the team might trade McDavid and load up on assets.
8. McDavid needs to cut his hair and shave, he looks like a bum.
9. He’s so unhappy in Edmonton, you can just see how disappointed he is all the time.
10. The fan base is going to chase McDavid out of town. Why would he want to play where the fans are so disrespectful.
11. McDavid should make the Oilers a playoff team all by himself.

Related: NHL Rumors: Leafs Goaltending, Rangers Trades, More

16 Shades of Extreme: Management

Here are 16 comments geared towards management since the off-season started and through 2018. Even as the Oilers enter the calendar year of 2019, the GM is often still under fire.

1. Peter Chiarelli is the worst GM in hockey.
2. Chiarelli has completely ruined the Oilers by trading away all their depth scoring.
3. Chiarelli has no skill in evaluating players, trusting him to make a one-for-one or big-name player trade will be the end of the Oilers chances to make the playoffs.
4. His one job was to shore up the defense and he clearly hasn’t done that; this after trading Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle.
5. Despite how bad a job he’s done, he still thinks he’s right in the moves he’s made.
6. Chiarelli can’t be trusted to trade the Oilers out a mess he created.
7. This isn’t Chiarelli’s fault, he inherited a mess and is doing what he can to clean it up.
8. Chiarelli is trying to save his job by firing Todd McLellan.
9. Chiarelli is trying to save his job by mortgaging the future.
10. If the Oilers make the playoffs, Chiarelli has been promised he will be kept on as GM.
11. Chiarelli isn’t actually making these trades, the Oilers have taken that power away from him.
12. Chiarelli didn’t hire Ken Hitchcock, that was done by Bob Nicholson.
13. Chiarelli isn’t done making moves yet, there’s more to come.
14. The Oilers are undefeated in 2019 and Peter Chiarelli is looking like the resident genius.
15. He found Alex Chiasson and signed Mikko Koskinen, he’s vastly underrated as a manager.
16. His resume is that he has traded away Phil Kessel, Tyler Seguin and Taylor Hall. He’s now acquired a player who once broke a collarbone of his team captain, who’s either the best or second-best player in the league. How he gets work is one of the NHL’s biggest mysteries.

Related: NHL Rumors: Benn, Seguin, Frolik, Oilers, More

23 Shades of Extreme: The Roster Depth

Here are comments geared towards the rest of the Oilers roster not named McDavid.

1. It’s disgraceful Draisaitl was left off the All-Star team, yet he’s a lazy player and should be traded.
2. Draisaitl should be driving his own line. He makes too much money to play with McDavid.
3. Leon Draisaitl is a whiner. If he’s not playing with McDavid, he’s not happy.
4. Alex Chiasson might be the best professional tryout find in the history of the NHL.
5. The Oilers should trade for Jordan Eberle. There’s no way he re-signs in New York.
6. Edmonton rushes their prospects. Jesse Puljujvari and Kailer Yamamoto shouldn’t be with the team right now.
7. Sending Evan Bouchard down was the dumbest thing the Oilers could have done.
8. Not sending Evan Bouchard down is the dumbest thing the Oilers could ever do.
9. Edmonton needs to call up Ethan Bear (usually said right after comments made that the Oilers rush prospects).
10. It shouldn’t have taken Drake Caggiula to acquire someone like Brandon Manning.
11. The Oilers defense is the worst in the league.
12. Kris Russell is still the most overrated defenseman in hockey.
13. There’s no way Milan Lucic should be in the NHL.
14. Milan Lucic as part of the identity line is a great line and creating great chances (even though they’ve yet to score a goal).
15. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is one of the most underrated players in hockey.
16. The Oilers should trade Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for a defenseman.
17. Adam Larsson for Taylor Hall is still the worst trade the Oilers have ever made (let’s not forget, the Oilers traded Wayne Gretzky).
18. The Oilers should have the best power play in the NHL but have one of the worst.
19. The Oilers are the most dominant team in 3-on-3 overtime.
20. Edmonton should be able to trade a handful of their depth players for a top-six scorer (often said by people not realizing that no one wants the Oilers garbage)
21. The Oilers should trade Jesse Puljujarvi for a defenseman.
22. The Oilers would be insane to trade Jesse Puljujarvi.
23. Edmonton should trade Cam Talbot but don’t know who their goaltending starter is.

In reality, I could have kept this list going, but for the sake of having a play on words with the “50 Shades” theme, I kept it at 50. What would you add to this list? We know Oilers fans aren’t shy about sharing their opinions.